

Si 



<yOY<£)C0UTS 

Girls 

qpen^ir^lubs 




Wfirldwide Movement 
for the Welfare of 

Children 




Class. 

Book J 

Copyright^ 



COF/RIGHT DEPOSIT; 




Photo by Underwood & Underwood, X. Y. 



LIEUT.-GEN. SIR ROBERT BADEN-POWELL, K. C. B., K. C. V. O. 

Founder of the Boy Scouts, Receiving a Message of Welcome from President Taft, 

Hon. President of the American Boy Scouts, on His Landing in America. 

The Scout Who Bore the Message is William Waller, Who Wears a 

Medal of Honor for Life Saving 



OUR LITTLE 
MEN AND WOMEN 




MODERN METHODS OF CHARACTER BUILDING 

A Manual of Work and Recreation in which Many Val- 
uable Lessons are Taught that Prepare Boys 
and Girls for Future Usefulness 



EDITED BY 

THOMAS H. RUSSELL, A. M., LL. D., 

ASSOCIATE OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND 
SOCIAL SCIENCE 

Boy Scout Stories, by Marshall Everett, the Great 
Descriptive Writer 



ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN FROM L1TB 






b . A K 






SPECIAL ARTICLES 

BY 

Hon. Woodrow Wilson, Governor of New Jersey. 

Prof. Wm. A. McKeever, M. A., Ph. M., of the Kan- 
sas State Agricultural College. 

Sir Francis Vane, . Bart., J. P., President of the 
British Boy Scouts. 

George Ellsworth Johnson, Superintendent of the 
Pittsburg Playground Association. 

Eev. Peter MacQueen, Ph. D., F. E. G. S., the Great 
Traveler and Lecturer. 

Frank G. Bruner, Ph. D., Department of Child 
Study, Board of Education, Chicago. 

Alice P. Norton, Professor of Domestic Science, 
School of Education, University of Chicago. 



Copyright, 1912, 
by L. H. Walter. Chicago 



gCI.A3l9060 




PREFACE 



PROPER development of children is the first considera- 
tion in civilized society. The United States, which took 
the lead in establishing public schools and supplying free edu- 
cation, has also taken up earnestly the whole subject of Chil- 
dren. 

This volume deals chiefly with the subject of children at 
play. It gives a comprehensive survey of work already ac- 
complished, a review of the best thought on the subject, and 
a glance into the future. 

Scientific study has brought the most remarkable results 
in the raising of cattle and other domestic animals, in the pro- 
duction of wealth, and in the adornment and refinement of 
life. But all students of existing conditions see a great gulf 
between our material achievements and their application to 
life, especially to the lives of children. Cities and towns, and 
even farmhouses, are built, not primarily for living, but for 
work. Living in the cities and towns is an incident to produc- 



6 PREFACE 

tion and in the vicinity of the most perfect factories and mills, 
stores and transportation lines, humanity is decaying. 

This distressing phase of our economic condition has 
caused thousands of our people to turn their thoughts to so- 
cial improvements, to ways and means to secure more favor- 
able environment for the child, and better preparation of our 
youth for life as grown men and women. 

Great cities present the most painful conditions and show 
the awful effects of neglect of the legitimate demands of chil- 
dren, simply because the results are larger in the aggregate. 
In small cities, villages, and in rural neighborhoods, conditions 
often are as bad, modified somewhat by the fact that in such 
localities man-made conditions are to some extent ameliorated 
by natural surroundings not yet changed by the industry of 
men. 

Children and young people will have entertainment. 
They are certain to seek relaxation, diversion, activity, social 
intercourse, and excitement. Failure to provide for this legit- 
imate and absolutely certain demand does not solve the prob- 
lem. Neglect of the play-side of young life, and giving over 
to private commercial enterprises the work of supplying this 
necessity, have had most disastrous results, tending to decay 
of the social organism and causing a constant increase in ex- 
penditures for corrective institutions, such as courts, police- 
men, prisons, asylums, hospitals, and probation officers. 

During the first periods of our history we were so busy, 
so hard pressed, and so engrossed with urgent needs of all 
kinds that we had no time, money, nor the inclination to con- 
sider children. They were simply permitted to grow up. 
Rule-of -thumb methods prevailed in homes and schools, in 
municipalities and rural neighborhoods alike. Simple meth- 
ods of life, fathers and sons working together, mothers and 
daughters assisting one another in their homes, and whole- 
some contact with natural obstacles, united to aid in the de- 



PREFACE 7 

velopment of children. Conditions were better than they are 
at present. 

Times have changed, however. City and town life have 
encroached on the farms, nature has been subdued, and ma- 
chinery, complex and wonderful in its effectiveness, has come 
to make a new world. We may, aided by machinery and sci- 
entific knowledge, produce enough for all and now have ample 
funds and leisure to consider children, their lives, their de- 
mands, and what results we may attain. 

Out of the public schools have grown many new ideas. 
Poorly nourished children (the result of poverty or ignor- 
ance) are revealed to teachers as they sit beside the well-fed 
and healthy pupil. It has also been discovered by teachers and 
others who have studied the facts, that children and young 
people, when deprived of opportunity to play, are the prey 
of vice, delinquency, physical degeneration, and unhandiness. 

On the other hand, children, when given a chance to play 
and to express the exuberance of youth in natural and 
wholesome sports and enterprises, are saved from the pitfalls 
dug in every community, deliberately by depraved men and 
women, and indirectly by neglect of the people to manage af- 
fairs properly. 

Play has been discovered to be the path to a greater ad- 
vancement of children, physically, mentally, and morally. 
Once considered a useless waste of time, a sort of nuisance to 
be tolerated, children's play now is known to be the best means 
for their education and preparation for adult life. 

Organized play has within the last few years been so suc- 
cessful that great cities now have, as departments of munici- 
pal government, playgrounds, play directors, swimming teach- 
ers, and baseball and football coaches. Scores of men and 
women, paid by funds raised by taxation, direct children at 
their play. Within ten years the city park has changed from 
a spot decked with flowers and intended to be a place of 



8 PREFACE 

beauty and only for the eyes, to a vast playground. Foot- 
ball, baseball, swimming, indoor and outdoor gymnasiums, 
sand piles for little children, running tracks, golf links, tennis 
courts, and boating ponds now are the big features of city 
parks, while flowers and foliage are used only to adorn these 
recreative institutions. 

In Chicago more than $30,000,000 has been spent for play- 
grounds, "field-houses," bathing beaches and gymnasiums, 
natatoriums, and halls for dramatic entertainments, parties, 
and other social events. This vast sum was raised by taxation 
and well spent under the direction of practical business men, 
who are satisfied with the results, even when considered only 
in terms of money. 

This movement has spread rapidly. In fact some small 
cities and towns are, comparatively, as far advanced as is 
Chicago. But Chicago's $30,000,000 is only its beginning. 
Already its leading business men are planning to increase the 
city's investment in playgrounds by $100,000,000. It is pro- 
posed that others besides children shall have recreation. Since 
we know that grown persons need play as much as do the chil- 
dren, Chicago proposes to have ten miles of lake front devoted 
to recreation, with a stadium that will seat ninety thousand 
people. 

Wise horse-owners have long known that their draft an- 
imals turned out to pasture on Sunday and permitted to roll 
upon the ground are better for the play-day and give better 
returns on the investment than if worked seven days or kept 
tied up all week. So it is with playgrounds and parks, out- 
door schools, boy scout movements, social centers, and "little 
mother" clubs, — they pay returns on the investment. 

It is indicated by the trend of affairs that in the not distant 
future a city which does not provide organized and directed 
play, playgrounds, and the most modern means for recreation, 
will fall behind. 



PREFACE 



9 



Men will decline to invest their money in communities not 
equipped for the development of the youth. Employes in 
shops and factories, mills and stores, on farms and railroads, 
are depended upon to make these enterprises effective and 
profitable, and young people developed under the best condi- 
tions are the best prepared to do useful work. They are 
stronger, more determined, better at teamwork, and more hon- 
orable, and can be depended upon at all times, with fewer 
failures than those permitted to grow up untrained and with- 
out the development given by organized play. 




OEGANIZED INDOOR PLAY 
Bagatelle, Chess and Checkers at a Neighborhood Center Hold the Interest of 

Boys and Girls 



MY PLEDGE 



I hereby promise, upon my honor, to 
do all in my power: 

1. To live a useful, temperate life. 

2. To do my whole duty to God, 
my Country, and my Parents or 
Guardians. 

3. To protect Dumb Animals and 
Birds. 

4. To keep myself physically 
strong, mentally awake, and morally 
straight. 

5. To do some useful thing or per- 
form some act of kindness each day. 

(Signed) 



Date 



CONTENTS 



Page 
PREFACE 5 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1 



THE BOY WORLD SCOUTS 19 

Race Patriotism — Great Days for Youth of all Countries — Interna- 
tional Brotherhood of Lads — Discipline, Adventure and Cam- 
paigns to Make World Better — Place for Future Men in Work of 
All Countries — Promise of Universal Peace and Abolishment of 
Race Hatred — Boys of All Lands Unite. 

THE BOY SCOUTS' VICTORY 23 

Scoutmaster Appears — Patrols Organized — The Forest Schoolroom — 
Around the Campfire — Staves and Their Uses — Cooking Dinner 
— Boys Save a Farmer's Home — "Be Prepared." 

SCOUT PATROL IN ACTION 35 

School in a Barn — Scout Virtues — The Australian Crawl — The Use- 
ful Staff — The River Rescue — Mr. Manning Meets a Horseman — 
The Horse Patrol. 

THE FIGHT AT THE SPRING 47 

Getting Ready for Camp — Jim's Horsemanship — Scout Methods — 
Enemy is Captured — Unexpected Guests — The Great Day Comes. 

THE BRAVEST BOY 59 

First Day in Camp — Swimming Lessons — Around the Fire — The 
Story of Black Tommy. 



12 CONTENTS 

Page 
TONY THE TRUMPETER 65 

Bugle Call in the Forest — Mysterious Recruit from Distant Land — 
Invention for Scout Staff — The Capture of Red Joe's Gang. 

A SCOUT'S BRAVERY 75 

Signals from the Hilltop — Call to Duty — "Be Prepared" — Dick's 
Awful Half-hour. 

THE RIVER BATTLESHIP 85 

Scouts On the Water — Swimming Drill — Tony's Leather Thong — 
The Bull's Waterloo. 

CRUISE OF THE RAFT 95 

Stormy Days — Night in the Flood — Billy Goat Enlists — Wreck of 
the Raft — Relief at Last. 

SCOUTS SAVE A SHIP 105 

Good-bye to the Tenderfoot — The Goat on Guard — The Scout Signal 
Corps — The Shipwreck — In Prison. 

SCOUTS AS EXPLORERS 115 

Signal Boys in Court — Free at Last — The Redbirds' Hike — The 
Discovery — International Camp. 

AMBASSADOR TO THE CAMP 125 

Visitor from Afar — Old Friends Meet — Scouts of Many Tongues — 
Invitation to Go Abroad. 

TRAINING OF BOY SCOUTS 133 

By Sir Francis Vane, Bt., J. P v General Scoutmaster of the British 
Boy Scouts. 

THE GIRLS' CLUB 139 

Birth of an Idea — Good Times for Girls as Well as Boys — 
Organization of the Club — Its Objects and Program. 



CONTENTS 13 

Page 

A DAY IN THE OPEN 145 

A Good Start for the Club — The Girls' Enthusiasm — Additions to 
Membership — The Benefits of Exercise — Visit to a Farm. 



MOTHERS GET BUSY 157 

Gymnastic Training for the Girls — A Girls' Field Day — The 
Mother's Club Organized — First Aid to the Injured — A Class in 
Shopping and Dressmaking. 



A CLUB RECEPTION 165 

Notable Gathering of Townspeople at Mrs. Spencer's — Praise for 
the Club — Many New Members — A Talk on Complexions — Care 
of the Hands. 



LITTLE MOTHERS 175 

Practical Lessons in Care of the Baby — The Scientific Bath — Ar- 
rangement of the Nursery — Rules for Sleeping. 

LITTLE HOUSEKEEPERS 187 

A Meeting in the Club Leader's Kitchen — Proper Preparation of 
Ordinary Dishes — The Millionaire Who Longed for a Mutton 
Stew — High and Low Cost of Living — A Week's Economical 
Meals for Two. 



LITTLE NURSES 195 

Instruction in the Care of the Sick — Dr. Sterling's Practical Talk — 
A Model Sickroom — Nursing a Natural Task for Woman. 

A JOINT HIKE 207 

Girls' Club Members and Boy Scouts Enjoy a Trip to a Neighboring 
Lake — Aquatic Sports and Pastimes. 

CHILDHOOD LIFE IN MANY LANDS 217 

By Rev. Peter MacQueen, Ph. D., F. R. G. S. 



14 CONTENTS 

Page 
PLAY— THE ELIXIR OF LIFE 239 



WHY TEACH A CHILD TO PLAY? 259 

By George Ellsworth Johnson, Superintendent of Playground Asso- 
ciation, Pittsburg, Pa. 



OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 260 

By Frank G. Bruner, Ph. D., Assistant Director, Department of Child 
Study, Public Schools, Chicago. 



FOOD FOR CHILDREN 295 

By Alice P. Norton, Professor of Domestic Science, School of Edu- 
cation, University of Chicago. 



THE SOCIAL CENTER 307 

By Hon. Woodrow Wilson, Governor of New Jersey. 



CIGARETTE SMOKING 315 



WORK AND SAVING 323 

By Wm. A. McKeever, M. A., Ph. D., Professor of Philosophy, 
in the Kansas State Agricultural College. 



REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 331 



Illustrations 



Page 

Frontispiece — Boy-Scout Welcoming Gen. Baden-Powell 2 

Organized Indoor Play 9 

When the Boy Scouts Enjoy Themselves 18 

A New Boy Scout Patrol 20 

Around the Campfire 24 

A School of Health and Happiness 25 

The First Camping Place 27 

Boy Scouts in a Wood 29 

One Use of the Boy Scouts ' Staff 30 

Scouts at the Swimming Hole 37 

First Aid to the Apparently Drowned 38 

First Aid to the Apparently Drowned 39 

An Improvised Camp-Stove 42 

• Dinner Time in Camp 46 

A Boy Scout Shelter 49 

Boy Scout Tents 51 

The Camp Stove 52 

1/ Scoutmaster Manning and His Patrols 55 

,/ Scouts on Their Way to Camp 56 

J A Scout Shelter Tent 60 

Leg Wrestling in Camp 66 

Catch-as-Catch-Can Wrestling 69 

. Eeady to Transmit Signals 71 

- Scout Patrols at Eest 74 

First Aid to the Injured 76 

First Aid Bandages 78 

Same Viewed from the Eear 79 

Making a Field Stretcher 80 

Use of the Stretcher 81 

^-Making a Chair 83 

, The Boy Scouts ' Camp 88 

An Official Inspection 90 

A Temporary Camp 93 

Unorganized Play 96 



16 ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

The Story of the Wreck 98 

Big Mac Off Duty , 99 

Tony and His Band 102 

The Evening Band Concert 103 

One of the Horse Patrol 104 

Making Fire Without Matches 107 

Starting the Plame Ill 

The Fuel Supply 113 

A Mighty Nimrod 114 

Where Patriotism is Taught 119 

Field Day for the Scouts 121 

Good Scout Timber in the South 124 

An International Field Day 128 

First Aid for a Comrade 130 

In the Land of Bananas 132 

Sir Francis Vane, Bart., J. P 136 

Starting the Girls ' Club 140 

A Popular Idea 143 

The Cookstove in the Woods 147 

The Stepping-Stones 149 

A Little Housekeeper 151 

Getting Close to Nature 153 

A Southern Girls ' Club Member 157 

Calisthenic Exercises 159 

At the Eiver Bend 162 

The Old Dutch Windmill 164 

A Gymnastic Class 166 

An Old-Fashioned Exercise 167 

In the Girls ? ' ' Gym. " 169 

A Girls ' Club Picnic 171 

Useful Occupation 174 

The Subject of the Bath 176 

A Morning Bath 177 

Lessons from Toys 178 

A Little Gardener 179 

In the City Park 180 

Barefoot on the Beach 181 

Sunshine and Tan 182 

Morning Play 185 

A Little Housekeeper 188 

A Class in Cookery 189 

A Neat Dining-Eoom 190 

Another Class in Cookery . 193 

Domestic Scientists 194 

A Model Sickroom 199 



1LLUSTRA TIONS 17 

Page 

Graduate Nurses . . . . . 201 

A Folk-Lore Festival 206 

The Joy of Sailing 208 

Scouts as Mermen 209 

No Room for All 210 

Out for a Sail 211 

Leaving a Wake 213 

Ready For a Eide 216 

Children of Many Climes 218 

"Born Tired " 223 

A Children 's Reading Room 224 

An English Child and Her Pets 227 

Interested and Happy 228 

A Child of Milan 232 

In a German School 233 

Children of Modern Athens 235 

Over the Hurdles 240 

Opening a Public Playground . . . 243 

Better Than a Backyard 246 

A City Swimming Pool 249 

Joys of City Childhood 250 

Giving the Girls a Chance 252 

A Real Social Center 256 

The Orchestra Practice 258 

The Children 's Own Garden 260 

A Supervised Baseball Game 263 

Playing the National Game 264 

Scouting in Winter 267 

The Boys ' Wand Drill 269 

1 ' Oh, What a Picnic " 270 

In the Wading Pool 273 

Not Little Eskimos 279 

Taught in the Open Air 280 

In the Open Air School 284 

An Open Air Schoolroom 288 

The Period of Rest 291 

A Mothers ' Meeting on the Sands 294 

The Modern Drinking Cup 298 

< < We Play Basket Ball '' 302 

Ready for School 305 

The Drawing Class 306 

Modeling in Clay 314 

Girls in the Game of Basket Ball. 330 

Record of a Smoker 's Heart Action 319 




tJC 



PQ £ & 



*a 




THE BOY WORLD SCOUTS 

RACE PATRIOTISM GREAT DAYS FOR YOUTH OF ALL COUNTRIES 

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF LADS— -DISCIPLINE, AD- 
VENTURE AND CAMPAIGNS TO MAKE WORLD BETTER PLACE 

FOR FUTURE MEN IN WORK OF ALL COUNTRIES PROMISE 

OF UNIVERSAL PEACE AND ABOLISHMENT OF RACE HATRED — 
BOYS OF ALL LANDS UNITE. 



THOSE who are living twenty-five or fifty years hence 
will enjoy conditions the like of which have not existed 
before in historical times. Remarkable changes have taken 
place in the last seventy-five years and evidences on every 
hand indicate that progress is to go on at an ever-increasing 
rate. 

Chapters to follow will deal with a system of boy train- 
ing which is new in the world. It is spreading in all lands 
and the significant thing about this educational movement 
is that its foundation is "race patriotism." 

Heretofore it has been the custom to teach national or 
provincial patriotism. Apparently the idea prevailed that 



20 



THE BOY WORLD SCOUTS 



ardent love of home and the home nation called for distrust, 
disrespect, and often hatred of countries in which other men, 
women and children have their homes. As a result the earth 
has been drenched in blood. Men have hacked and shot one 
another to death and still are doing it, leaving thousands of 
women and children in distress and without protection. 

Perhaps the most grievous fault of war and of a national 
patriotism is that the strongest men, the men of the noblest 




A NEW BOY SCOUT PATEOL 

Boys Take Kindly to The Scout Movement and Its Outdoor Features Appeal to 

Their Love of Adventure 



ideals, the most courageous men, and the most determined men 
have often been killed, leaving men of lesser strength and char- 
acter to be the fathers of the race. Napoleon, with his wars, 
caused the average height of Frenchmen to decrease several 
inches, because all the tall, strong young fellows went to war 
and many were killed, leaving the small men at home. 



THE BOY WORLD SCOUTS 21 

Thoughtful men everywhere now see the evil of war, of 
physical competition between men and nations, of race hatred 
and provincial patriotism. Among the movements to bring 
about a better day is that included in "The World Peace Boy 
Scouts," "The Boy Knights," or "The International Boy 
Scouts." These organizations have grown out of a splendid idea 
originated by General Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the noted 
British defender of Maf eking in the Boer War. 

Communication between all nations, common exchange of 
commodities and credit, general travel between different lands, 
international organizations of scientific men, bankers, work- 
ingmen and scholars, happily made the idea of the Boy Scout 
movement international and civic. As great men in all lands 
now recognize the folly of international war and race hatred, 
they propose that boys and girls of all countries shall be 
trained for world betterment. This means that love of home 
and of the home country shall teach that people of other na- 
tions have the same hopes and the same work to do. If we are 
stronger we shall help the weaker. Our strong boys shall 
grow into strong, useful men, trained for constructive work, 
disciplined, courageous, and cool-headed, ready to obey and 
able to command obedience in organized effort. Such young 
fellows may invade other lands, but they will be welcomed as 
useful workers and they will leave the foreign land richer and 
its people happier for their invasion. 

This is a revolutionary idea, but it meets with favor among 
all educated men in all civilized countries and few men dare 
to stand forth and oppose it. Such opposition should bring 
upon them the ridicule of the world at large. 

But while the idea is admitted to be correct, it cannot be 
materialized without organized effort. Such an effort is now 
being put forth. Sir Francis Vane, who comes of an 
ancient and distinguished English family, the son of a sol- 
dier and himself a soldier, bearing the marks of wounds and 



22 THE BOY WORLD SCOUTS 

wearing decorations for bravery and distinguished service in 
the Boer war, has taken the initiative in this World Scout sys- 
tem of training and is its international leader. 

Trained for the army and schooled in the obsolete idea of 
race fanaticism, he has, under the influence of international 
travel and experience, scientific knowledge and the new ethics 
of race betterment, formulated what is considered by the 
authors of this volume the greatest educational movement the 
world has ever seen. 

Modern conditions have tended to change all the aspects 
of life. One of the most painful effects of this change has 
been the breaking down of discipline. At the very time when 
communities most need discipline to secure the greatest bene- 
fits from democratic government, it is discovered that the 
great mass of boys are growing up without being trained in 
forbearance, endurance, patience, steadfastness, and the abil- 
ity to live and work in harmony with their fellows. 

To change all this is the mission of the Scout system, as 
elaborated and put into practice by Sir Francis Vane. The 
absolutely unique feature of the Scout plan is that the boys 
eagerly seek these open air schools and through the natural 
love of adventure, idealism, and "make-believe" of youth the 
teacher implants ideas of world-fellowship, fearlessness, disci- 
pline, mutual helpfulness, truthfulness, respect for parents and 
elders, friendship, courtesy, kindness to all living creatures, 
and thriftiness without meanness. 




THE BOY SCOUTS' VICTORY 

scoutmaster appears patrols organized — the forest 

schoolroom around the campfire states and their 

uses — cooking dinner — boys save a farmer^s home — 
"be prepared/' 



DICK CROCKETT had some great news for the boys 
and he started for school in high spirits. As soon as his 
friends saw him running they knew something was up. 

"Get together at the barn after school," he said quietly and 
mysteriously. 

"What's up?" they asked, and some of the younger ones 
began teasing, for Dick was not in the habit of being mys- 
terious about nothing. 

It was Friday and study was unusually hard, because the 
boys were excited about Dick and his plans. At four o'clock 
they gathered at Dick's barn and he sat on an upturned barrel. 

"Just wait a few minutes," he said, "and keep quiet. There 
is going to be something going on in these diggings before 
long and only the fellows who can keep quiet and tend to busi- 
ness can get in on the job." 



24 



THE BOY SCOUTS' VICTORY 




AROUND THE CAMPFIRE 

Where Boy Scouts Learn the Lessons of Self -Help, Kindliness and True Charity, and 

Gain in Health and Character 



Just as he finished they saw the new school-teacher com- 
ing around the house. Some of the boys thought it was all up 
when they saw this young man coming toward them. He had 
been in town only a short time and few knew anything 
about him. He was not like some school teachers, this the boys 
admitted. 

His name was Mr. Daniel Manning. He had been in the 
army and w r as captain of his company when it went up San 
Juan Hill and later helped clean up the Cuban cities so there 
could be no more yellow fever. 

Mr. Manning was tall and strong and quiet. Every one 
appeared to want to work with him and his word was law with 
boys who knew him best. 

"Well, Dick," he said, "I see w r e have a good company 



THE BOY SCOUTS' VICTORY 



25 



already." Mr. Manning was Dick's uncle, but the boys did 
not know this and wondered how they became so well ac- 
quainted. 

Mr. Manning directed the boys to find seats on the barn 
floor and then he told them about the Boy Scouts. It was all 
new to them and sounded just like a story. He said he would 
be scoutmaster and that all the boys should be scouts, if they 

learned "scout-craft." 
It sounded almost too 
good to be true, but 
that very afternoon 
all the boys were en- 
rolled as "Tenderfoot 
Scouts." 

"Is there a boy 
here who does not 
want to have good 
muscles, to be able to 
run a long distance, 
to know how to find 
his way in the woods, 
how to swim, how to 
save life, how to build 
a shelter, how to make 
fire without matches, 
and how to control 
himself so he will not 
be excited or angry in 
an emergency?" He 
waited for a reply, 
but there was none. 
The boys were too surprised. Some thought he was joking 
about making fire without matches. 

"If there is a boy here who does not want to do and be the 




A SCHOOL OF HEALTH AND HAPPINESS 

The Outdoor Life Makes Better Little 

Men and Women 



26 THE BOY SCOUTS' VICTORY 

things I have named, he can drop out right now," continued 
Mr. Manning. 

"We'll stick," shouted the boys, each one afraid he would 
be left out. 

"Tomorrow at 6:30 o'clock," the new scoutmaster said, "I 
want all you boys to be here, if your parents have no objection. 
We will go on our first scouting expedition, try to learn some- 
thing, and try to make some discoveries in the woods west of 
the town. 

"Wear your old clothing, have some sort of a sack, and a 
good knife or hatchet. Bring also some rope or good stout 
string. For rations each boy should bring some bread and two 
potatoes." 

Even before six the next morning there were boys at the 
barn. Dick was there early and Mr. Manning came just on 
the minute. 

All but two of the boys were ready to go. Tom Haskins 
and Will Dunham said they could not go and were almost in 
tears. 

"I have to take out the ashes," Tom said, and Will could 
not go because he had to rake the back yard. 

"That is easy," said the big scoutmaster. "Our first duty is 
to stick together. We can't divide our forces, so we must call 
for volunteers for extra disagreeable duty. Who will go to 
help Tom take out the ashes and who will go help Will rake 
the yard?" 

Half-a-dozen boys were detailed in a moment for the two 
jobs and set off readily to get it done. Both Mrs. Haskins and 
Mrs. Dunham were amazed. They thought the boys would 
make an awful mess and not do the work at all. But she did not 
know about the scout game and was more amazed than ever 
when the work was all done in less than a half-hour, many 
hands making it easy. 

Meanwhile Mr. Manning and the boys at the barn had 



THE BOY SCOUTS' VICTORY 



27 



laid out the day's trip. He gave each boy a strong piece of 
paper marked in small squares. The top was the north and 
the bottom the south, the east was at the right and west at the 
left. "We must make a map of our trip to-day and get the 
lay of the land," he told them. "We must locate good camp- 
ing places, and every other interesting point, so we can always 
find them easily." 



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THE FIEST CAMPING PLACE 

Mr. Manning Instructs His Early Recruits in the Way to Enjoy 

Outdoor Life and Sport 



Mr. Manning appeared strange to the boys, for he had on 
his old army service uniform, brown and full of pockets. At 
his side he had a haversack, which bulged out as if it con- 
tained a lot of useful things for an expedition. "As soon as 
we are organized we will have uniforms," he told the troop. 



28 THE BOY SCOUTS' VICTORY 

As they marched out of the yard Mr. Manning headed 
toward the corner store. There the boys found long wooden 
staves ready for them, the scoutmaster having directed the 
storekeeper to secure long shovel handles, all new and 
smooth. 

Each boy in the troop liked the staff. It was strong and 
suggested many things. "These staves," said the teacher, 
"are about the most useful thing we scouts carry and as we 
improve in scout-craft we shall find many uses for them." 

One of the boys discovered a small hole in one end of his 
staff, and looking through, was delighted with the clear and 
interesting view of familiar objects. 

As the troop bravely emerged from the town and entered 
into the open country each boy began to feel good. The fresh 
air, the prospect of a day in the woods, building fires, and 
making discoveries, made them happy. They had no way 
of knowing what exciting adventures they would experience 
before they returned home again. 

They "hit the trail," as Mr. Manning called it, at a good 
pace and soon were on the banks of a little stream. They 
made their way up this water-course for several miles and 
finally reached a smooth, open place in the woods. It was 
nearly spring and all nature was alive. 

"We'll make camp here," directed the scoutmaster. The 
boys wondered how they were to make camp without tents, 
but they were soon to learn. 

Under the direction of their leader things began to take 
shape. Two boys were directed to collect wood for a fire, 
others were set to rolling logs and chunks of wood into cer- 
tain positons, their new staves enabling them to roll big tim- 
bers easily. Soon the fire was going and the burning wood 
gave a pleasant odor and warmth, the weather being sharp 
and bracing. It was then discovered that the logs were for 
seats and Mr. Manning, taking his place near the fire, directed 



THE BOY SCOUTS' VICTORY 



29 



the boys to find seats. It was seen that the open place had 
become a sort of school, with the logs for seats. But there 
were no books and the boys knew that any school which might 
be held there would be interesting. 

This camp was to be the meeting-place of the scout troop 
many times and the boys were to learn a great deal, have 




BOY SCOUTS IN A WOOD 

Training the Faculty of Observation and Learning the Useful and Important 

Lessons of Scoutcraft 



many good days, and considerable adventure, before the sum- 
mer was over. 

When they were seated Mr. Manning explained more 
about the Boy Scout organization. He told them how boys 
were to organize under scoutmasters and learn to be good 
scouts according to plans made by grown men who had 
proved their strength in peace and war. 




ONE USE OF THE BOY SCOUTS' STAFF 

How it is Made a Valuable Help in Climbing Trees for the Purpose of 

Observation in the Woods 



THE BOY SCOUTS' VICTORY 31 

He read the Scout oath and each boy was glad to sub- 
scribe to the following pledge; 

"On my honor I will do my best: 

"1. To do my duty to God and my country, and to obey 
the scout law; 

"2. To help other people at all times; 

"3. To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, 
and morally straight." 

Continuing, Mr. Manning said: "A good scout should 
be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obe- 
dient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. 

"As we go on we shall learn what each of these means,'' he 
said. "At first each boy must be a tenderfoot scout; then he 
may become a second-class scout, and finally a first-class 
scout." 

He then divided the group into three patrols, and they 
selected Dick, Tom, and Will to be leaders. Dick became 
leader of the Eagle patrol, Tom was chosen by the group 
which took the name of Bear patrol and Will became leader 
of the Redbirds. 

Mr. Manning showed the scouts how to mark on their 
maps the course the party had taken and gave each patrol 
leader a small leather-bound note-book, which was to be his 
"logbook" or history of the patrol. 

As noon approached the boys began to think of some- 
thing to eat and the bread and potatoes in their pockets 
seemed good to them. 

"As we have had no chance to catch fish or capture game," 
said their teacher, "I will supply meat for our dinner." He 
took from his haversack a package which contained small 
pieces of fresh beef. 

He gave each boy a piece and showed him how to roast it 
by holding it on a sharp clean stick cut from the underbrush 
near at hand. The potatoes were placed in the hot coals, some 
of the boys encasing them in clay found at the water's edge. 



32 THE BOY SCOUTS' VICTORY 

Salt was provided from the haversack of the scoutmaster, 
and in due time the boys had a very satisfactory meal, al- 
though simpler than they were accustomed to and hardly 
enough for their ravenous appetites. Mr. Manning ex- 
plained that the next time each boy should have his own haver- 
sack and carry his own rations. 

In the afternoon the young scouts learned how to tie 
knots, how to use their staves, or staffs, for making shelter, 
stretchers to carry injured persons, and for climbing trees or 
fences. They learned the names of the trees and brush about 
their own camp. Mr. Manning told them that this spot was 
to be their headquarters for the summer, as he had secured 
permission from the owner on condition that the boys did not 
destroy the big trees or do any damage to any property in 
the vicinity. They all promised to help the farmer take care 
of his property and very shortly were to have a chance. 

"I want to take you up to see this farmer," said the scout- 
master. He formed the boys into patrols and showed them 
how to keep together in military style. When the lines were 
formed he gave the order to march and they started for the 
farmhouse. 

As they came near the house they saw that something was 
the matter. 

"Double time," was the order, and following the scoutmas- 
ter the boys raced for the farmhouse. Some of the larger 
boys became excited and ran ahead. 

"Halt," shouted the scoutmaster, and the boys turned in 
surprise. 

"Fall in," was the command. "Keep together and don't 
break ranks, nor do anything else without orders." 

This order was obeyed and the scoutmaster looked over 
the lines. "Steady now," he said. "Forward!" In a mo- 
ment he gave the order "Double time," and the scouts ran 
along easily, keeping their lines. 



THE BOY SCOUTS' VICTORY 33 

When they were within a hundred yards of the house they 
saw that the farmer's house was on fire. With his wife and 
three small girls he was trying to save some of his property, 
but it looked like a hopeless case. 

He did not see the boy scouts until the patrol dashed into 
the barnyard. Mr. Manning took in the situation at a glance. 

"Dick, take your patrol and man the pump! Fill the 
trough full!" 

The boys who were in Dick's patrol remembered that they 
were to stick together and ask no questions, so they ran to 
the pump. 

"Tom, you and your men get buckets! Look for them 
everywhere." 

"Will, follow me with your patrol!" 

The military spirit, which prompts many men to work to- 
gether as one, entered the boys and they did not run about 
and waste time and energy, as they might have done if they 
had not been organized. 

The Eagle patrol pumped water, Dick using his men in 
relays, and the big trough rilled rapidly. The Bear men, led 
by Tom, each found a bucket, or pan, or some handy vessel. 
Mr. Manning reported to the farmer and asked him what he 
wanted out of the house. He detailed three of the strongest 
boys to go with the farmer and his wife and they carried out 
trunks and clothing and other valuables. 

Mr. Manning entered the building and running up stairs 
found just where the fire was. The rooms were pretty well 
filled with smoke and he had difficulty in locating the seat of 
the fire. He found it, however, and knocking off some plas- 
ter with his scout hand-ax, he was ready for water. Tom and 
his bucket men had thought of a ladder, and finding one, 
placed it up to the window just as Mr. Manning looked out 
and called for water. 

Dipping water from the trough and handing it from one 



34 THE BOY SCOUTS' VICTORY 

boy to the other and on up the ladder, put a stream into the 
house. Mr. Manning had Will come through the window 
and work with him. They found the fire had gained headway 
in several different places, but they fought each blaze sep- 
arately, and in less than fifteen minutes had the fire sup- 
pressed. Then all hands took it easier. 

When it was all over and the boys rested from their hot 
work, proud and happy, the farmer and his wife told them 
how thankful they were. He told them they might build a 
log-cabin at their camp and that he would mark the trees they 
were to use. 

The farmer's wife gave each boy a good big drink of milk, 
an apple, and a slice of bread. She had some pie, but there 
was not enough to go around and so all the boys refused to 
take it. 

On the way home Mr. Manning commended the boys for 
their promptness in obeying orders, and their steadiness, and 
predicted a lively and useful career for the organization. He 
told them never to throw water on a fire in a house unless they 
could see where the water was going and be sure that it would 
do some good. 

"Be Prepared" he said, "is the great scout motto." 

To be prepared a boy must know how to handle himself. 
His mind and body must be under control of his own will. 
He must constantly suppress excitement and anger, fear and 
worry. 

The boys went home and told their fathers about the scout 
troop, and before the week was over their fathers heard from 
the farmer how the scouts had come to his rescue. 



' «fc 






SCOUT PATROL IN ACTION 

SCHOOL IX A BARN SCOUT VIRTUES THE AUSTRALIAN CRAWL 

THE USEFUL STAFF THE RIVER RESCUE MR. MANNING 

MEETS A HORSEMAN THE HORSE PATROL. 

SCOUTMASTER MANNING looked over the boys in 
school and on the street. With the keen eye of a soldier he 
saw that there was good timber for the patrol, but he saw that 
they needed training before they could be depended upon to 
work together, to forget selfishness for the good of the patrol 
and of others, and to be cool and skillful always. 

Every boy decided to stick to the patrol and determined 
to be a good scout. They discovered that even the little ex- 
perience at the farmhouse fire made their school work and 
home work easier. In Dick's barn Mr. Manning set up a big 
blackboard and school was held there often. It was more fun 
than the regular school and the lessons were fine. 

They learned how to tie knots as follows : Square or reef, 
sheet bend, bowline, fisherman's, sheepshank, halter, clove 
hitch, and timber hitch. 



36 SCOUT PATHOL IN ACTION 

They also learned how to use their staffs or staves in many 
ways; how to make a stretcher to carry an injured person, 
how to use them for shelter, how to use them as a lever and for 
jumping. The stout hickory stick won the affections of 
every boy and they soon were to see how useful the sticks were 
in an emergency. 

They also learned about the scout virtues, which are as 
follows : 

1. A scout is trustworthy. 

A scout's honor is to be trusted. If he were to violate his 
honor by telling a lie, or by cheating, or by not doing exactly 
a given task, when trusted on his honor, he may be directed to 
hand over his scout badge. 

2. A scout is loyal. 

He is loyal to all to whom loyalty is due, — his scout leader, 
his home, and parents and country. 

3. A scout is helpful. 

He must be prepared at any time to save life, help injured 
persons, and share the home duties. He must do at least one 
good turn to somebody every day. 

4. A scout is friendly. 

He is a friend to all and a brother to every other scout. 

5. A scout is courteous. 

He is polite to all, especially to women, children, old peo- 
ple, and the weak and helpless. He must not take pay for 
being helpful or courteous. 

6. A scout is kind. 

He is a friend to animals. He will not kill nor hurt any 
living creature needlessly, but will strive to save and protect 
all harmless life. 

7. A scout is obedient. 

He obeys his parents, scoutmaster, patrol leader, and all 
other duly constituted authorities. 



SCOUT PATROL IN ACTION 



37 




SCOUT PATROLS AT THE SWIMMING HOLE 

All Good Scouts are Taught to Swim under Expert Instruction and with 

Perfect Safety 

8. A scout is cheerful. 

He smiles whenever he can. His obedience to orders is 
prompt and cheery. He never shirks, nor grumbles at hard- 
ships. 

9. A scout is thrifty. 

He does not wantonly destroy property. He works faith- 
fully, wastes nothing, and makes the best use of his oppor- 
tunities. He saves his money, so that he may pay his own 
way, be generous to those in need, and helpful to worthy ob- 
jects. 

He may work for pay, but must not receive tips for cour- 
tesies or good turns. 

10. A scout is brave. 

He has the courage to face danger in spite of fear, and has 
to stand up for the right against the coaxings of friends or the 
jeers or threats of enemies, and defeat does not down him. 



38 

11. 
He 

speech, 
crowd. 



SCOUT PATROL IN ACTION 

A scout is clean. 

keeps clean in body and thought, stands for clean 
clean sport, clean habits, and travels with a clean 




FIRST AID TO THE APPARENTLY DROWNED 

This Shows One Method of Emptying the Patient's Lungs of Water Before 
Restoring Respiration 



12. A scout is reverent. 

He is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious 
duties, and respects the convictions of others in matters of 
custom and religion. 

Every Saturday the boys visited their rendezvous in the 
woods. They began to feel at home there. As the birds came 
north many of them made their nests near the camp and the 
boys decided to protect them, so that they could raise their 
young unmolested. 



SCOUT PATROL IN ACTION 



39 



Every scout looked forward to the summertime, when 
they were to camp out. 

Mr. Manning selected a place on the stream which he said 
would make a good swimming hole as soon as it was warm 
enough. He told them the best strokes for swimming and 
especially about the Australian crawl, which enables a 
swimmer to go fast. To use the crawl stroke the 
swimmer keeps his legs straight and does not kick at all. He 
keeps his arms straight and works them as if they were paddle- 
wheels, on a boat, lifting each arm clear above the water for the 
recovery after each stroke. 

Tom, who had learned to swim the year before, studied this 
method and was determined to become proficient. One Satur- 




FJRST AID TO THE APPARENTLY DEOWNED 

The Best Method of Restoring Respiration. The Patient's Arms are Alternately 

Raised and Lowered until Breathing is Resumed 



40 SCOUT PATROL IN ACTION 

day when the patrol was in its camp Tom and some other boys 
of his patrol went down to the water to survey the swimming 
hole. They saw some large boys in a boat some distance above 
them, fishing. The boat was a crazy affair and the country 
boys evidently knew nothing about handling the craft. They 
were constantly changing seats and finally one of them rocked 
the boat while a companion was standing. Of course the boat 
went over. The boys were almost men and all tall except one, 
who was less than five and a half feet. As bad luck would 
have it, this short lad tumbled into deep water and the tall ones 
into shallow places. The big fellows were able to wade out, 
although each one took on considerable water, through open- 
ing their mouths and their clumsiness in the water. 

They saw their companion struggling. "Help!" he cried, 
"I am drowning." His companions ran up and down the 
bank, excited and useless. 

Tom and the scouts saw the accident and started for the 
shore nearest the drowning boy. Mr. Manning also heard the 
shouts and came from the camp, but he was some distance 
behind the scouts. "Stand by to use your staves," said Tom, 
taking the lead. "I can swim and will go in first. Harry, you 
can swim a little; you come next! The rest of you line up 
behind, with Bill as 'anchor' at the rear." 

This took but a moment, and before they reached the spot 
the scouts were in position. 

Tom, taking his staff, waded into the water holding to 
Harry's staff. Harry waded in and took hold of the next 
boy's staff. 

Finally Big Bill, distinguished among the scouts for his 
slowness and strength, took hold of the boy chain and, anchor- 
ing himself, prepared to stand fast on the shore. 

The water was cold, but the boys, interested in their work 
and working without excitement or fear (as good scouts 
should) paid no attention. Tom waded out until the water 



SCOUT PATROL IN ACTION 41 

was up to his chin, and then he reached out his staff, which 
he had taken in his right hand, while he held on to the chain of 
boys with his left. 

It fell short of the drowning country boy and Tom took a 
desperate chance and plunged out over his head. He felt sure 
that every scout would hold on to the staff in his hand and 
not let go under any circumstances. Had one of the boys re- 
leased his hold or weakened, Tom, Harry, and the country boy 
probably would have been drowned, for Tom and Harry were 
not prepared to swim in such cold water. 

As luck would have it, the drowning boy came up just as 
the staff struck the water beside him and he grabbed it. 

"Haul in," shouted Big Bill, and he began pulling. Poor 
Tom and the strange boy were drawn under. Tom was 
choked by the cold water, but he grimly held on. Harry went 
down under the strain and was submerged. But the other 
boys did their work well and in a moment had Tom in shallow 
water. The leader of the Bear patrol took the limp form of 
the rescued lad in his arms and, aided by other scouts, floated 
him to shore. 

Mr. Manning had meantime given the call for the Eagle 
and Redbird patrols and the sixteen boys were now on the 
bank. They brought their staves, for that is a rule among 
scouts. Even before Tom and the Bear men had the half- 
drowned boy on the bank, a stretcher had been made, the boys 
using two staves and their coats. 

On the run he was carried up to a smooth place on the 
bank and Mr. Manning gave him first aid for the drowning. 
Water was pumped out of the poor fellow and he came around 
in a half -hour or so. The wet Bear scouts had built up a big 
fire at the camp and had their thatched shelter all warm and 
comfortable for their visitor. Their own clothing was drying 
at the fire. 

Everyone had forgotten the farmer boys on the other side, 




p 



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r- Ch 



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O 

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o 



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SCOUT PATROL IN ACTION 43 

but they had made their way up the river and crossed on a 
bridge, and the scouts saw them coming through the woods. 
While their companion sat by the warm fire and regained his 
strength, the visitors introduced themselves. The short boy 
who had been pulled from the water was named Jim Hawkins. 
The largest boy was Fred Baldwin. There were four of them. 

"We know more about horses than we do about boats," 
said Fred. "We are mighty thankful to you fellows for get- 
ting Jim out of the river. We did not know what to do and 
were about knocked out when we fell into that cold river." 

The scouts could see that Fred and his crowd were curious 
about the camp and the scouts. Mr. Manning explained it to 
them and they said they would like to get into the organization. 

"Can you ride horseback?" asked the scoutmaster. 

"That is about all we can do," said the boys. "Our fathers 
have stock farms three miles back there and we help break 
colts." 

"If you want to join the scouts, you can form a horse 
patrol," said the teacher. 

"Say," said Fred, "will we do that, boys?" 

His friends declared that each could get a horse, and that 
a lot of other boys in their neighborhood could ride and could 
have saddle-horses almost any time. 

While they were talking it over a man on horseback was 
seen by one of the scouts coming slowly up the path. He 
called attention to the stranger. "There is Uncle Jack," said 
Jim, lifting himself upon his elbow. 

The horseman approached and, dismounting, stepped up 
toward the fire, leading his mount. 

Mr. Manning arose to welcome the visitor. The two stal- 
wart men acted strangely. They looked into each other's eyes 
earnestly. 

"Jack Hawkins, of the Sixty-seventh, or I'm a rooky," 
said the scoutmaster. 



U SCOUT PATROL IN ACTION 

"I guess it's you, Manning, but I never expected to see you 
again," said the horseman. "How did you get out of that 
hole? Tell me all about it." 

Forgetting the boys the two men sat down by the fire and 
began talking. They had been comrades in the Sixty-seventh 
United States Volunteers and had been together in the Philip- 
pine and Chinese campaigns. Mr. Hawkins was regimental 
adjutant and Mr. Manning had been captain of Company A 
of that regiment. Mr. Manning had not returned to America 
with the regiment, having been given up for dead after an 
engagement in the Philippines. Instead of being dead, he 
was very much alive and in the hands of a mountain tribe of 
natives. He had been treated well by the natives and had 
gained their friendship by teaching them many of the arts 
of civilized men. As a reward for his kindness, the natives 
had conducted him out of the wilderness and started him on the 
trail that led to the United States forces. So he reached home 
again six months after his regiment had been mustered out 
and the men scattered all over the country. It was a happy 
meeting and Mr. Hawkins, who had been a mounted officer, 
agreed to become scoutmaster for the horse-patrol. 

The scouts had dug a cave in the woods back of the camp. 
It was completely concealed and contained stores for just such 
an emergency. From their cave they brought potatoes, bacon, 
cocoa, canned milk, flour, sugar, and other supplies and 
utensils. 

Skillfully they prepared a good meal and the ex-soldiers 
said they had never had a better camp dinner. All hands 
gathered around the fire and ate from their tin plates and drank 
from their tin cups. It was all cozy and comfortable, Jim 
being none the worse for his adventure. Mr. Hawkins thanked 
the scouts and congratulated them on their skill and coolness. 

"It has been my experience," he said, "that a man or boy 
is of use only when he has his head about him. It is all right 



SCOUT PATROL IN ACTION 45 

to make haste with your body, but you want to keep your mind 
cool and think straight. Fear, worry, and excitement are the 
enemies we should all fight. A man might have to run from a 
bull, but he don't have to be afraid or lose his head. If he is 
going to die, he should die calmly and with his mind working in 
good shape." 

"If this scout movement," added Mr. Manning, "can train 
boys to know how to do things, how to use their hands, feet, 
muscle, and mind, and to have control of themselves, it will be 
a great thing. The boys in this patrol are learning it and my 
old Company A of the Sixty-seventh could not have got that 
boy out of the river any quicker than did the boys of the Bear 
patrol." 

Poor Jim was ashamed of being the one rescued and 
determined to show what he could do some day. None then 
knew how soon Jim would render an even greater service to the 
scouts than they had rendered to him. 

It was decided that the foot scouts and horse patrol should 
rendezvous at the camp the very next Saturday and spend the 
day together. Mr. Hawkins learned where to get uniforms 
for his mounted patrol and the boys parted the best of friends. 





THE FIGHT AT THE SPRING 

GETTING READY FOR CAMP JIM^S HORSEMANSHIP SCOUT 

METHODS ENEMY IS CAPTURED UNEXPECTED GUESTS 

THE GREAT DAY COMES. 



SCHOOL finally came to an end. Mr. Manning had ar- 
ranged for a period of camping, for instruction and 
adventure in the woods and along the river. 

It developed that a number of the boys had work to do 
at home. This was reported to the scout patrol and taken 
up at a meeting. It was decided that the boys should stick 
together and be comrades at work as well as play. 

"If we go away and leave some of our forces behind," said 
the scoutmaster, "we may be too few in number to do our duty. 
So far we have stood by our duty, at the fire and when Jim 
Hawkins was in the water. We want to keep up this good 
work." 

Several times Capt. Jack Hawkins and his troop of horse 
scouts had met with the foot patrols at the camp in the woods. 



48 THE FIGHT AT THE SPRING 

Long before school was out the boys had made frames for 
thatched shelter for all hands and by using- thatches and canvas 
had a very dry and pleasant place. 

It had been arranged that the horse patrol should camp 
with the foot-men, and a great time was expected. Mr. Man- 
ning drilled the boys in all the arts of scout-craft. He laid 
particular stress on patience, endurance, and cool-headedness. 

"If you were driving a high-strung, spirited horse, you 
would keep a tight line on him," said their teacher. "So it 
is with your muscles and your mind. They are high-spirited 
and you must make them do what you decide they should do." 

Jim Hawkins, under the instruction of his uncle, who had 
served as a mounted officer in the army, proved to be the best 
horseman in the country detachment of the scout organization. 
He still was somewhat ashamed of having fallen into the river, 
but always was grateful to Tom and the Bear patrol. Jim 
hoped some day to be able to return to the Bears the kindness 
they had done him. Before the first annual camp of the scouts 
his chance was to come. 

Jim had decided to perfect himself in scout-craft. He 
was not so large as some of the other boys, but he cultivated 
what muscle he had, deepened his chest by deep breathing, 
stood erect, and tried in every way to keep down fear, excite- 
ment, worry, and all sorts of nervousness. He met with suc- 
cess and was one of the steadiest and coolest fellows in the 
mounted outfit. 

About three weeks before school was to close the scouts 
decided to invite their mothers and sisters to have dinner with 
them at the camp. The ladies and girls accepted and started 
in a carry-all for the camp. Capt. Hawkins sent Jim and two 
other mounted scouts to meet the carry-all and escort the party 
to the camp. 

It happened that the horses drawing the carry-all were 
young and only half broken, and the driver was a man who had 



THE FIGHT AT THE SPRING 



49 



weakened every nerve and muscle in his body by drinking. It 
was a serious mistake on the part of the liveryman to send such 
a team and such a driver with a lot of women and girls. 

Jim and his comrades emerged from the woods and saw 
the party in the carry-all going down the road, having missed 




A BOY SCOUT SHELTEK 
T.he Scouts are Taught to Make Their Temporary Camps Attractive as Well as 
Comfortable and Sanitary 



the turn which would have taken them to camp. The scouts 
started to catch up, riding at a sharp trot. 

Jim was riding a well-trained black horse which most of the 
boys conceded was the fleetest in the patrol, or in the country 
around for that matter. His keen eye saw that the carry- all 
team was being mismanaged and he was not surprised to see 
the young horses bolt when a hen ran across the road. 



50 THE FIGHT AT THE SPRING 

The driver was absolutely helpless. He had no control over 
his team and they turned from the main road into a by-way 
that led toward the woods. 

Jim at first was appalled at the prospect of a terrible acci- 
dent and felt his heart sink. 

"None of that," he said to himself, and drawing on his 
scout teaching he decided that now was the time to be cool and 
to do his best. 

"Beat it, Duke! Beat it!" he said to his horse, and the fine 
animal sprang ahead of the other boys as if he had been shot 
from a gun. The colts with their heavy load made surprising 
speed over the rough road, but Duke gained rapidly. Jim de- 
cided that he must reach the side of the runaways and turn 
their heads gradually before they reached the woods, where the 
vehicle was sure to be smashed against the trees. 

He also thought of the possibility of causing the team to 
turn suddenly and upset the load. 

Duke gained rapidly and the women and girls saw the 
horseman coming and, expecting aid, waited almost silently. 

Jim slackened the pace of his mount as he drew alongside 
and leaning far over, got hold of the lines. 

Fortunately the ends had been buckled together and he 
secured both lines, jerking them from the hands of the nerve- 
less wreck of a man who was holding on for his own life. 

Taking the lines in his right hand, and managing Duke 
with the left, he half-hitched the lines about the pommel of his 
saddle. 

By slackening Duke's pace he brought heavy pressure on 
the lines. But he was afraid he would break the leather and 
was careful. He made them taut, however, and began to turn 
the team from the road into the field through which it ran. 

The runaways saw no reason why they should not leave 
the road and obeyed the pressure on the bits. 

Out of the road the carry-all became a heavy load indeed, 



THE FIGHT AT THE SPRING 51 




BOY SCOUT TENTS 

The Staff of Peace Eeplaces the Musket of Militarism 

in This Great and Useful Movement 

and the colts went slower. The hard pulling, the soft ground, 
and their long run, took the life out of them and they obeyed 
the lines better every moment. Jim kept his eyes open for ruts 
and obstructions, for he did not want to upset the carry-all 
by being careless at that stage of the game. 

When the colts had slowed down somewhat, he considered 
the situation, and then, riding close, jumped from Duke to the 
back of one of the colts. With one foot on the tongue of the 
vehicle, and taking up the slack in the lines, he quickly brought 
the colts to a walk. Then turning them around he drove back 
to the road. 

Duke, with a pained expression on his intelligent black face, 
looked after Jim, apparently wondering at the strange conduct 
of his young master. Being unable to solve the mystery, Duke 
came trotting after and joined the other mounted boys. 



52 



THE FIGHT AT THE SPRING 



Jim drove the carry-all to the camp and the women and 
girls, who had been rescued from a very exciting and danger- 
ous situation, were generous in praise of his horsemanship and 
coolness. 

"We're even now," said Dick. "My mother and sister were 
in that wagon and you saved their lives." 

Capt. Hawkins was very proud of his nephew and Mr. 
Manning thanked and congratulated the boy rider. 




THE CAMP STOVE 

How the Boy Scouts Arranged for the Convenient Cooking of Their Meals 

at the Summer Camp 

The boys' mothers and the girls were highly pleased with 
the camp, and the dinner the boys prepared and served was 
praised, although it was a little bit "mussy" when compared 
with the meals prepared and served in their own neat kitchens 
and dining-rooms. 

This picnic and the good work by Jim Hawkins were only 



THE FIGHT AT THE SPRING 53 

incidents in the lives of the scouts before they ended their school 
work. Most of the time was put in qualifying as tenderfoot 
scouts, and most of the boys entered the first-class scout degree 
before the time for the camp began. 

Mr. Manning and Capt. Hawkins decided to have the camp 
open for business a week after school closed and to keep it 
running most of the vacation. All of the boys could not be at 
the camp all the time, but it was arranged so that they could go 
out to the rendezvous whenever they had the opportunity. 

It was decided to postpone the building of their log cabin 
until the following fall and winter, the best time for such hot 
work as chopping down trees. 

Mr. Manning found a spring up the hill back of the camp. 
There were no sources of contamination near and he had the 
water analyzed to see if it was safe for drinking. It was found 
good. 

"Bad water," he said, "is the greatest enemy of the people. 
It kills many persons every year and travelers in strange coun- 
tries always should arrange to boil the water they drink." 

Only enough military drill had been given the scouts to 
enable them to move in good order, to work together and to 
feel the spirit of co-operation and the power of united effort. 

Before the boys went into camp they worked in relays, 
cleaning out the water hole, making a spring-board at the swim- 
ming place, and building a good camp stove and making per- 
manent tent -houses. 

One day when Will and the Redbirds were on duty alone, 
they discovered a lot of poorly-dressed boys fouling the spring. 
They remembered about the danger of bad water and, grabbing 
their staves, they started up the hill at double time. Naturally 
they fell into good order. Will discovered that running up 
the hill took about all the wind the boys had, so he halted them 
for a few moments and then continued the advance at a slow 
walk. The boy leader remembered to keep his head and he 



54 THE FIGHT AT THE SPRING 

knew the patrol must be fresh when they encountered the gang- 
around the spring. 

"That is our spring," he said, as the scouts approached. 
"Please leave it alone. If you want a drink, or water for any 
thing else, you can have all you want. But it is poor business 
to spoil the water for all of us." 

The gang was so surprised to see the row of boys with their 
staves that they only looked. But the largest boy, evidently 
the self-appointed leader, gained his tongue. He saw that he 
had ten boys and that there were only seven of the scouts. 

"Look at them kids," he shouted. "Go home and tell your 
mother she wants you." 

"We will not go home and you must get away from that 
spring." 

"Let's give them a good licking," said the big boy, and he 
picked up a clod of earth and hit Will on the face. 

It was Will's first thought to fly at the intruder with his 
staff and fight recklessly. But that is not the scout way, so he 
refrained. 

"We don't want to fight with you fellows," he said. "We 
would like to be your friends. We are scouts and try to be 
friendly with everyone. But if you want to fight and won't 
go away, we'll show you how to fight. We know how to defend 
ourselves and our water-hole." 

The gang howled in derision and began throwing clods at 
the Redbirds. 

"Single file," said Will, in a low tone. "Face to right! 
Double time! Surround them!" 

The orders were obeyed and the outlaw boys in a twinkling 
saw themselves surrounded by the scouts. Each member of 
the patrol had his staff held firmly and ready to jab any one 
who approached. 

It was apparent that the strangers were amazed and also 
admired the precision and system of the Redbirds. Although 



THE FIGHT AT THE SPRING 



55 



the scouts were outnumbered and outweighed by the members 
of the gang, they were well trained and not in the least excited. 
"If we get a beating, take it cool-headed," said Will to the 
other boys. "Stand ready, and if any of these fellows try to 
get away, jab them. Don't hurt them any more than is 
necessary." 




SCOUTMASTER MANNING AND HIS PATROLS 
Showing the Scout Staves and Signal Flag for Wigwagging 

This business-like talk and the assurance of the scouts and 
their organized methods, were all new to the other side. 

Anger followed, however, and the largest boy in the gang 
made a wild plunge at Will. The patrol leader saw him coming. 
He caught the enemy on the end of his staff and, relaxing an 
instant, gave a hard shove. The big boy went back on the 
ground, unhurt, but with a new respect for his opponent. 




Copyright by Underwood & Underwood. N. Y. 

THE EAGLE, BEAR, AND REDB1RD PATROLS ON THEIR WAY TO THEIR 

FIEST ANNUAL CAMP 



THE FIGHT AT THE SPRING 57 

Other boys tried to break away, but were pushed back. 
They were afraid of being knocked on the head with the staves, 
but none of the scouts intended to use such violence unless it 
became absolutely necessary. 

Will had the boys prisoners, but he could not figure out 
the next step. While he was thinking he saw Mr. Manning 
arrive at the camp below. He gave the Redbird call and the 
scoutmaster came up the hill. 

He took in the situation at a glance and sat down on a log. 
"What have they been doing?" he asked. 

"They were spoiling the spring," said Will. 

The gang was now quiet, the approach of Mr. Manning 
having been a reinforcement which they feared. 

"We live in the village up the river," said the gang leader, 
"and are out having some fun. We work in the brickyard most 
of the time. We don't intend to do anything wrong." 

"All right," said Mr. Manning. "Will, let them march 
down to the camp." 

Very tame and mild, the prisoners went down the hill, fol- 
lowed by the scouts with their staves held in readiness. 

"Have you had any dinner?" asked Will, remembering that 
scouts are always kind, even to enemies. 

"Ain't had nothing since morning," said the brickyard 
leader. 

"We are going to have dinner in a little while and we will 
divide with you fellows if you'll promise to leave our spring 
and other things alone and help us." 

"That sounds good to us, don't it, fellers?" said the gang 
chieftain. 

"It sure does," was the reply from his crew. 

Mr. Manning saw that Will was able to handle the affair 
as a scout should, and said nothing. 

All hands set to work to get dinner and in a few moments 
the former enemies were on good terms. The brickyard boys 



58 THE FIGHT AT THE SPRING 

were very helpful with work on the stove, being used to hand- 
ling brick and work of that kind. 

After dinner the boys were very good friends indeed. "We 
want to join this gang," said the big boy, whose name was 
Mac. 

"There's a lot of kids up our way who would like to join." 

Mr. Manning was pleased with this and it was arranged 
that Mac and five other boys should come down to the camp 
when it was regularly established, as guests of the scouts, and 
learn how to organize, learn the scout law, and other methods 
of the organized boys. 

"Our patrols," said Mr. Manning, "will march over to 
your town some day and meet with your patrols. Organization 
is a good thing. It doubles our strength and gives us new 
power. Scouts always use their power and skill for the good 
of others." 

The next week, early in the morning, the Redbirds, the 
Eagles, and the Bear patrol might have been seen emerging 
from the town. On a big hand-cart they had plenty of sup- 
plies and their hand-axes and staves gave them the appearance 
of being very well prepared for a life in the open. 

It was a beautiful morning and as the patrol marched into 
the well-beloved camp the birds were singing, they could hear 
the water breaking over the riffle, and from the earth and grow- 
ing things there came a sweet incense that called to the out- 
door instinct every healthy boy feels. 

Each scout was in good health, they were well trained in 
running, in making fire, making shelter, first aid, and had be- 
come steady and confident that whatever happened they could 
not be stampeded. 

From the distance, the breezes wafted the sound of hoof- 
beats and in a few minutes the horse patrol galloped into the 
clearing, saddlebags bulging and horses groomed till their coats 
shone, the boys having been careful not to get their mounts 
hot. 




THE BRAVEST BOY 

FIRST DAY IN CAMP SWIMMING LESSONS AROUND THE FIRE- 

THE STORY OF BLACK TOMMY. 



THEIR first day in camp was a great experience. All the 
scouts were there and the spirit of comradeship drew all 
together. Had not the boys been trained for their camp life, it 
is likely that there would have been quarrels, work would have 
been poorly done, the cooking would have been a muddle, and 
things would have been at sixes and sevens. 

As preparation had been made, everything went off with 
precision. Everyone had his work to do and knew how to do it. 
There always was plenty of wood for the big fireplace, dishes 
were washed and scoured in the river promptly, and the shelters 
and blankets presented a neat appearance. 

In the afternoon the entire corps went in bathing. Few 
of the boys could swim. In a river there are holes and it is a 
more dangerous place than are lakes and the sea, with their 
sloping beaches. Mr. Manning, however, was not afraid, be- 



60 



THE BRAVEST BOY 



cause he knew that the boys would obey orders. He learned 
where the holes were and directed each patrol leader to see that 
the boys took their swimming lessons in the places selected. 

One of the boys, who had practised the crawl stroke on dry 
land, found that he could swim the very first time he went into 
the water and made considerable headway. In this exercise, as 
in everything else, the boys found that system and regular 
methods brought the best results. 




A SCOUT SHELTER TENT 

Like the ''Dog Tents" of the Army, These Shelters are Enjoyed by All Healthy 

Boys and are Convenient to Carry 



It became cooler toward evening and after their swim the 
boys were ready for supper. It was a chilly night and the 
campfire felt good as the boys rested on their blankets before 
turning in for the night. 

"How would you like to hear about a bov who, I believe, 



THE BRAVEST BOY 61 

did as brave an act as was ever done by boy or man?" asked 
Mr. Manning. 

All the boys wanted to hear the story and Mr. Manning- 
told it. 

"Back in 1899," he said, "I was a private in the 171st 
Indiana Volunteer Infantry. We were ordered to Cuba to oc- 
cupy the island after Spain and our country had agreed to stop 
fighting. There were other regiments sent to the island and 
United States soldiers were camped in a number of Cuban 
cities and towns. A few days after we had settled down in 
one of the seaports, a little negro boy came up to our cook 
shack. 'I'ze a tame nigger,' he said timidly to the cook. His 
little round black face looked tired and wan, and he was an odd 
figure in an army shirt and trousers some soldier had given him. 
It appeared that his home was in Charleston, S. C. He had 
been taken aboard a troop transport ship by some soldiers of 
another regiment and brought to Cuba. He was one of the 
many poor little negro waifs found in the South, without 
parents or relatives, so far as he knew. 

' 'Get to work!' " said the cook, a rough but not unkindly 
soldier. The little boy began washing pots and pans and 
worked all day, never stopping to rest. We found that he was 
frightened by his situation. The soldiers who had taken him to 
Cuba had driven him away from their camp, and he was 
alarmed when he found he could not understand the Cubans. 
He called them 'wild niggers.' He was about thirteen years 
old, could neither read nor write, and had been permitted to 
grow up as a dog or cat might grow. 

"Our company was rather kind to the little fellow. He 
worked for the cook all day and at night washed shirts for the 
soldiers. He wanted to get back to Charleston, which he called 
home because his mother's grave was there. 

'Will you-all take me home when you-all go?' he asked 
again and again. Some of the soldiers teased him and told him 



62 THE BE A VEST BOY 

he would be thrown over the side and fed to the alligators. His 
life was an uneasy one. He learned that it would cost $13 for 
steerage passage back to the States and he washed every night 
to get his money. He spent nothing, and in the course of two 
months he had almost enough. He told me one night that he 
wanted to get enough money to get home and to buy a bunch 
of flowers for his mother's grave. Like many other boys and 
men he began thinking of his mother when he was in trouble. 

"About this time four members of our company were 
arrested for sleeping at their post while on guard duty. It was 
not as bad as it seemed, because there was nothing at stake and 
they had slept because they did not know they were to stay 
awake, the corporal in charge believing that the guard was 
simply to sleep at a certain post, as was sometimes done. 

"The soldiers however were held prisoners in the guard- 
house. They were popular fellows and everybody knew they 
would get off with a small fine and perhaps would be cleared. 
Tommy, the little black boy, heard of their arrest and every day 
he saw guards bring the four prisoners to our cook-shack to eat. 

"There was a good deal of joking about the affair and 
everyone spoke as if the four prisoners would be shot at sun- 
rise some fine morning. Tommy asked about the case and was 
told by the soldiers that the four men surely would be shot and 
they urged him to get up early every morning so that he would 
not miss the show. 

"Tommy, usually bright and happy, became quiet and re- 
fused to be cheered. We did not know that the little fellow 
was going through a trial to the like of which few men ever 
subject themselves. It was a self-imposed trial, as we learned 
afterward, and Tommy was to be the victim. 

"One day, as the guard started from the regimental prison 
with the four culprits, Tommy met the squad. He ran along 
beside the prisoners. 'Is they goin' to shoot you-all?' he asked. 
'I guess they are,' said one of the soldiers, intending to joke. 



THE BRAVEST BOY 63 

'Will money help you-all any?' asked Tommy, hopping along, 
first on one foot and then on the other, to hide his embarrass- 
ment. 

' 'Sure, money will do anything,' said the soldier. 

' 'Then here's some,' said Tommy, and reaching into the 
pocket of his old trousers, he pulled out a greasy bag of money. 
'Take this! I don't need it and maybe you-all kin get away.' 

"The soldier turned in amazement. He knew how Tommy 
had worked for this money, — that it meant his very life, and 
that the little boy had given up going home in order to save 
four men from death, and these four men had never been espe- 
cially kind to him. 

"News of Tommy's heroic conduct was told to the whole 
company. The four prisoners were given their freedom and 
joined with the others in being kind to the little black boy, who 
had done an act as brave as any knight of old or as any soldier 
could ever do. 

"When the regiment returned to the States, little Tommy 
was a passenger on the transport, the guest of the regiment, 
even the colonel knowing about his heroic offer of self-sacrifice. 
When we reached home and were mustered out, the boys looked 
after Tommy and he is still the friend of every man in the 
regiment. 

"This story is true," added Mr. Manning. "It shows us 
that we should not despise or look down upon black people, 
yellow people, poor people, or any other person. We do not 
know what power or what bravery there is in even a little black 
dishwasher. In olden times kings and other bad men used to 
tell the people of their country that the people of another coun- 
try were bad, that they killed little children and drank their 
blood, and did other awful things. In this way the kings ex- 
cited their people to fight other nations, and the king was made 
richer, but the people suffered and the best men were killed. 
Many children were left without fathers, and progress was 
given a setback. 



64 



THE BRAVEST BOY 



"Even now there are attempts made to lead American boys 
to think of the people of other nations as their enemies; but 
the people of Germany, of England, of Russia, of China, and 
of every other country are a good deal like us. Parents love 
their children, and children love their fathers and mothers. 
They need food, clothing, and shelter and have to work for 
these things. I believe that war is a very foolish proceeding 
and I hope we can find better things to do." 

The boys were quiet after the story was finished, each one 
trying to think what he would have done had he been in Black 
Tommy's place. 

"Would I have spent my money for others and remained in 
a foreign land?" they asked themselves. 

The fire was banked, Mr. Manning gave the order to turn 
in, and the boys prepared to spend their first night in the open 
air. It was to be the first night in camp for some of the lads. 
It seemed strange to go to bed out there in the woods. There 
were strange noises and the cool, fresh air filled their sleeping 
quarters. In less than fifteen minutes every scout was asleep. 
Among all the dreams they had none was as strange, or as inter- 
esting, as what really was to happen the next day. 






TONY THE TRUMPETER 



BUGLE CALL IN THE FOREST MYSTERIOUS RECRUIT FROM DIS- 
TANT LAND INVENTION FOR SCOUT STAFF THE CAPTURE 

OF RED JOE^S GANG. 



BIRDS had left their roosts, bees were at work and the sun 
was two hours high — and still the tired scouts slept on. 
They had remained too long around the comfortable fire after 
their first hard day in camp and so they failed to greet the sun 
as he came up to dispel the darkness. 

There is no telling how long the scouts would have slept had 
not the lively notes of a trumpet been wafted to the camp from 
up the river. Mr. Manning was the first to awaken. He 
thought at first he again was in the army. First came the 
sound of "first call," somewhat different from that to which he 
was accustomed. This was followed by the notes of "reveille," 
the call sounded to awaken soldiers to duty. 

He jumped from his bed. By this time some of the boys 
were stirring and before the call had ended all were aroused. 



66 



TONY, THE ITALIAN TRUMPETER 



Hastily preparing for investigation, Mr. Manning and Tom 
and Will were ready in a few moments to move in the direction 
of the music. They went quietly up the river path. A hun- 
dred yards or so beyond the camp they saw, seated under a 
tree, a queer little boy, not more than fourteen, holding a 
trumpet on his knees. He was looking sadly out over the 




LECi WI* EST LI NO IX CAMP 

A Form of Exerci.se and Amusement that Helps to Make ('amp Life Enjoyable 

and Furnishes Much Fun 

water. The scouts were almost upon him before he saw them. 
He jumped in fright, but probably thinking that it would do 
him no good to attempt to escape by running, he began crying. 

"Don't cry," said Mr. Manning kindly. "We are scouts 
and are your friends." 

The boy replied in a foreign language, sobbing out the 
words. 

Mr. Manning, who was able to speak Spanish, recognized 
the language as Italian, and the delicate features and black 






TONY, THE ITALIAN TRUMPETER 07 

hair of the lad confirmed the belief that lie was an Italian 
hoy. But what he was doing there with an old army trumpet 
the scoutmaster could not conjecture. 

Jle replied to the boy in Spanish and the lad appeared to 
understand. Jle invited Jiim to go with them to the ('amp and 
his kind manner and words convinced the frightened hoy that 
the strangers meant him no harm. 

The scouts left at the camp had of course felt an impulse to 
run after the three when they started up the river, but remem- 
bering discipline (hey remained in camp as directed by the 
scoutmaster. 

All were surprised when they saw the small trumpeter 
brought into camp. At the fireside Mr. Manning whistled 
a number of calls and the face of the boy brightened 
up as lie repeated them on the trumpet. All the boys were de- 
lighted with the newcomer and his music. 

"Come and join the Scouts," they said heartily, but the boy 
did not understand. 

Mr. Manning learned that the boy's name was Tony and 
that he lived at the brickyard where his father was a laborer, 
lie discovered also that "Big Mac" and the brickyard gang had 
persecuted Tony because he spoke a foreign language and they 
could not understand him and he could not understand them. 
They had called him "Dago," which hurt his feelings because 
he knew it was a term of disrespect. 

The fire already was going in the camp stove and scouts 
detailed for the purpose were bringing water, while others were 
preparing the breakfast. One squad, known as the "pancake 
brigade," was beginning its adventure with flour and water and 
baking-powder and eggs. 

Although I he boys had never Keen in camp before, their 
scout training and preparation told and the routine work went 
on systematically. In half an hour inviting aromas began to 
arise and appetites were whetted to a hue edge. 



68 TONY, THE ITALIAN TRUMPETER 

Tony said he had breakfasted on a pieee of bread and his 
eyes were seen to be watching the cooking operations raven- 
ously. He was provided with "eating tools" and when the 
troop was served he was given the same rations as issued to the 
scoutmaster and patrol leaders, for in a scout camp all share 
alike — there are no favorites. 

Immediately after breakfast three of the boys went up the 
river to fish. They came back in fifteen minutes and reported 
that there was smoke from a campfire a half-mile farther on. 

"Dick, take your patrol and find out what is going on," di- 
rected Mr. Manning and Dick's men at once reached for their 
staves. 

While they were gone Tony began to feel at home and 
picking up one of the scout staves examined it. No one paid 
any attention to him, for there was work to be done, for a 
scout camp must always be shipshape and sanitary to the last 
degree. Tony found the small hole in the upper end and tak- 
ing from his pocket a long, slender leather string, inserted it 
in the hole. Next he tied the ends and the staff was topped 
with a strong leather loop. 

He had done this idly and was admiring the effect when 
Mr. Manning observed the work. He took the staff and Tony 
was afraid he had done something wrong. But Mr. Manning 
was pleased. He saw the value of such a loop on the staff 
in certain emergencies and told Tony, in the best way he could, 
that the idea was a good one. He then decided that each scout 
should carry a strong leather thong and be taught to tie it into 
a loop on the end of the staff. Such an arrangement would 
enable the scouts to make a chain of their staves, and if the 
leather was strong and the knot well tied, it would be of great 
use on many occasions. 

Dick returned at this point and reported that three boys 
had built the fire and were burning up the rails from the farm- 
er's fence. "The leader is a big red-headed boy," he said. 



TONY, THE ITALIAN TRUMPETER 09 




REGULATION WRESTLING IN CAMP 
Catch-as-Catch-Can is a Form of Athletic Exercise That Develops Muscle and 

Appeals to the Boys 

"Red-head, Red-head," cried Tony in alarm. 

lie continued to cry out, hut that was all the boys could 
understand. Mr. Manning explained that the red-headed boy 
had hurt Tony and always was teasing and abusing him. 

"We'll look into this," said the scoutmaster, glancing 
around. "How many men shall we take?" 

"Take us all," "Take me," "Take me," the boys shouted, 
each one eager to get into the adventure if there was to be one. 

"First we must hold a council of war," said Mr. Manning. 
"Let's all sit down and consider the matter." So the boys 
grouped themselves about the scoutmaster, the clean and well- 
ordered camp offering plenty of seats for just such a talk. 

"What is the work before us?" he asked Dick. 

"First," said the leader of the Eagles, "we must stop that 
fence-burning. We promised the farmer to look after his 
things and we must do it." 



70 TONY, THE ITALIAN TRUMPETER 

All the boys agreed that this was the first duty and Mr. 
Manning' indorsed the idea. 

"I think we ought to punch the Red-head for hurting 
Tony," said one boy. "He is just the same as a scout and we 
must stand by him." 

Mr. Manning told Tony what the boy had said and the 
Italian lad got the meaning of the Spanish. He was pleased 
and apparently felt safe with these sturdy, kindly, well-organ- 
ized boys. They seemed to be careful and deliberate in all they 
did and there was no haphazard movement or excitement. 

"If we punch Red-head," said Mr. Manning, taking a hand 
in the war council, "we will be doing to him just what he did to 
Tony." 

"Well, he should get it and get it hard," said one of the 
scouts, doubling up his fists. 

"We could go down there and use our staves," the teacher 
added, "and give that gang a good beating. But is that the 
thing to do? They are boys, just like us, and we are angry with 
them because they hurt little Tony. But Red-head and his 
crowd might make good scouts and we can help our own troop 
and help Red and his followers if we make them scouts. They 
may be just the fellows we need. We need a carpenter scout, 
a blacksmith scout, a boat captain and an interpreter. Red- 
head probably heard Tony and is burning the rails because he 
is not a scout. If we make him a scout, he will bother Tony no 
more and will not burn up the fences." 

"Let's make him a scout, like we did Big Mac," said Will, 
and all the boys were in favor of that plan. Tom proposed that 
a note be sent to the camp of the Red-head, asking him what 
he could do and inviting him to accompany the messenger back 
to the camp. 

Mark Shipley, the keeper of the scout logbook, went to his 
bunk and from a waterproof canvas bag took out his field- 
desk and records, pencils and pens and ink. He was a clever 
writer and soon turned out a note as follows: 



TONY, THE ITALIAN TRUMPETER 



71 



Friends: — This boy is from the scout camp at the lower riffle of the 
river. We want you to come and see us. We picked up a neighbor of yours 
this morning and want you to tell us where he lives. We can't under- 
stand him. We need help in this camp and would like to talk with you 

about joining us. Fraternally vours. T _ , _ _ 

Liberty Boys Scout Patrol. 

All the boys agreed that the note was just the thing. Mr. 

Manning said it was all right and had Mark sign his name as 

"Keeper of the Log." 

Dick, as the largest 

boy in the camp, was 
detailed to take the 
message and he set off 
at a brisk walk. He 
was not afraid and the 
other boys were not 
afraid, because when a 
boy feels friendly to- 
wards others he is not 
often frightened. 

Curiosity kept the 
scouts from doing the 
work they should have 
done while Dick was 
away. When he again 
sighted the camp he 
saw the boys standing 
about waiting. They 
knew nothing had hap- 
pened, because they 
had not heard the 
Eagle Patrol call for 
help. 

When they saw Dick they also saw three other boys. The 
red-headed one walked in front, proud and fearless. He ex- 







" \' ' 




( 


























^ 






; 






■ 


i 






•' 






... 




' 






■ ,; 


. 




HHH> 


-._ 








wLa^. ■ 


:; rV ■ ■ . 








• - V 














" 



EEADY TO TBAXSMIT SIGNALS 

Wigwagging Messages by the Telegraphic Code is 

an Important Part of a Boy Scout's Training 



72 TONY, THE ITALIAN TRUMPETER 

hibited no surprise and halted not an instant when he saw the 
scouts. His companions exhibited signs of uneasiness. 

"Brace up," he said to them disdainfully, and they shame- 
facedly came on into the camp. 

"We are here in answer to your note," said the big red- 
headed boy. "I am Joseph Vance, commonly called Red Joe." 

"All right, Joe," said Mr. Manning. "We welcome you to 
this camp of Boy Scouts. We want to hold a council with you 
and your friends." 

The teacher was surprised at the good English the boy used 
and admired his manly bearing. He could not understand how 
such a boy could have imposed on little Tony, but he then 
thought of how many smart and intelligent men impose on 
weaker persons and he understood how it had happened. 

In the council Joe explained that he had not burned rails 
from the fence, but had taken some old ones that were not used 
and never could be used for fencing. He entered into the 
spirit of the meeting like a veteran chieftain and admitted that 
he had been unjust to Tony. "There is no excitement in our 
town," he said, "and the boys teased Tony and called him 
'Dago' just to be doing something." 

Joe promised that hereafter he would look after Tony. He 
was a friend and partner of Big Mac, the boy captured by Will 
and his patrol, and had heard of the scouts. "I was on my way 
to see what you looked like, when I got your note," he added, 
"I may join." 

"What can you do?" asked Mr. Manning. "We need re- 
cruits." 

"I am an electrician, telegrapher, and a kind of ma- 
chinist." 

"Just the man we need," said the scoutmaster. 

"Bob here and Dug," said the red-headed one, "are learning 
to telegraph and both of them know the code." 

"Do you know how to signal with flags?" 



TONY, THE ITALIAN TRUMPETER 73 

This was a new one to the visiting boys and they said they 
knew nothing about it. Mr. Manning tied a shirt to the end 
of a staff and showed them how to signal, conveying the signals 
by certain waves that correspond to the telegraph code of dots 
and dashes. 

It was easy for the three boys and in fifteen minutes they 
could make the dots and dashes, so familiar to them, with the 
flag. Another staff was fitted up as a signal flag and Red Joe 
took this and waded across the river at the riffle. He finally 
reached a hilltop on the other side. He was so far away that 
he could be seen only as a figure with a flag. He had taken 
pencil and paper with him, prepared to take a message. 

"All men have red blood. All men and boys are brothers," 
w r as the message Mr. Manning wrote and handed to Bob and 
Dug. 

This practice game was very shortly to be turned to very 
grim reality. 





C_| Ph 

w £ 

o 



GO c3 

o"! 

§1 

r-j Pj 



c 




A SCOUT'S BRAVERY 



SIGNALS FROM THE HILLTOP CALL TO DUTY- 

— dick's AWFUL HALF-HOUR. 



BE PREPARED 



BOB and Dug took the message from the scoutmaster's 
hand and wigwagged it letter by letter. They made mis- 
takes, but Mr. Manning had explained to them the signal for 
"rubbing out" a letter and so the message finally was sent. One 
of the scouts had gone to join Red Joe, and after the message 
had been received he came running back with what Joe had 
written to compare it with the original. 

Here is what Joe had written : 

"Scout Friend: — All men red, all boys brothers." 

He had missed some of the words, but Mr. Manning 
thought it was well done. The scouts were delighted and many 
of them determined to learn to wigwag. 

Mr. Manning determined in his own mind to equip the 
camp with a wireless outfit, as he desired to study this great 
system of communication and he knew Red and his friends 



THE SCOUTS BRAVERY 77 

could work the instruments, which are not expensive. He was 
going to town that day and decided to send for a wireless 
outfit, to be shipped at once for use in the camp. 

While the boys were wigwagging he bade them good-bye 
and set off for town, leaving Dick in charge, as he was the 
choice of the boys for second in command. 

All sorts of messages were sent back and forth and the 
game was at its height when the scouts saw Red Joe waving 
wildly. He got the attention of Bob and Dug and they 
watched his signals with tense faces. 

"H-E-L-P-H-E-L-P-C-O-M-E-A-L-L." 

"Help! Help! Come all!" repeated Bob, as Joe disap- 
peared beyond the hill. "He wants us to come." 

Dick directed three of the smallest boys to remain in camp 
and followed by the others he set off at a fast walk for the hill. 
All hands waded into the river without a moment's hesitation. 
Some wanted to run all the time, but Dick remembered that in 
an emergency scouts are of little account if they are exhausted 
and out of breath from running. So under his orders the troop 
ran and walked by turns, making rapid progress. 

From the crest of the hill the boys saw a group of men 
standing around a mowing-machine in a field a short distance 
away. Evidently some one was in trouble, as one of the men 
was holding his hands to his head and shaking with anxiety. 
Another could be seen running. On the road beyond Dick saw 
Jim Hawkins and a detail of the horse patrol. Jim was riding 
Duke. He saw the man hail the horseman, speak a few words, 
and Jim leaned over Duke's head and then sped away like a 
rifle bullet. 

Dick and his men kept on their course toward the group 
of workmen in the field. When they reached the scene they 
found a young man of about thirty years of age stretched up- 
on the ground. Blood gushed from a wound iii the upper 
part of his right leg. None of the men knew what to do. 



78 



THE SCOUTS BUAVEin 




FIRST AID BANPAOUS 

A V>ox Scout Who lias Boon Used as n "Subject 

by 11 is Comrades. Nolo the Sling 

for a Broken Arm or Wrisl 



Dick had paid par- 
ticular attention to the 
first-aid instruction giv- 
en by the scoutmaster, 
as he had determined to 
be a doctor when he be- 
came a man. lie knew 
at (Mice that an artery 
had been cut, if not 
severed. But he dis- 
liked to take the initia- 
1 ive and the sight of the 
blood and the man's 
suffering almost made 
him sick. 

Some of the scouts 
turned away. Dick 
knew, however, that 
long before a doctor 
could arrive the man 
would bleed to death. 

At the thought of 

■ taking hold of the man 

lie felt his head swim 

and a weakness almost 

overcome him. 



"Fine scout you are, " he thought and by main force of his 
will he made himself a machine ready for its work. 

Stepping up to the distracted men, he said, "I know what to 
do for him." 

"Oh, do something! Oh, do something! Save him! I don't 
know what to do," was the answer of the almost crazed man, 
who proved to be the father of the injured farmer. 

Dick rolled up his sleeves. To steady his nerves he was 



THE SCOUTS BRAVER! 



79 



very deliberate about it. lie took time enough to roll them up 
well and to see that they would not come down. This had a re- 
markable effect on his nerves. He found he was steady and 
that the weakness had passed. He knew that the hole in the 
artery must be found and stopped. That was his work. He 
asked Bed Joe. who was eool. to hold the man's head and he 
plaeed Will and Tom eaeh at an arm., while Big Bill took hold 
of the uninjured leg. 

"Hold him still and 
don't let go." said 
Dick, and he went to 
work. He knelt down 
and spread the wound 
apart. It was a clean 
cut. He saw the spot 
where the blood gushed 
forth. It ran onto his 
hands. His clothing 
was wet with the warm 
life fluid. 

Red Joe kneeled 
over in a faint. Little 
Tony saw the need and 
kneeling down took 
the poor man's head 
tenderly in his small 
hands. 

Dick located the 
artery beyond a doubt 
and placed his thumb 
hard over the hole. It 
slipped off twice, but 
finally lie made it stick 




VIEWED FROM THE REAR 

Che Subject of First Aid Objeet Lessons Turned 

Around for Inspection 



and the blood stopped flowing. 



80 



THE SCOUTS BRAVERY 




.MAKING A FIELD STRETCHES 

Boy Scouts Using Their Staves and Coats to Make a Comfortable Litter for an 

Injured Comrade 



That was all Dick knew about first aid in such a case. He 
knew no way of tieing the artery, located as it was. He held 
on. He dared not move and he once or twice felt like keeling 
over, as Red Joe had done. But the thought that this man's 
life depended upon him kept him at his awful post. 

Try to sit perfectly still for one minute and see how long 
a minute really is. Dick had to remain as he was. His thumb, 
arm, and body ached before five minutes had passed and it 
seemed as if he could hold out no longer, for he had to press 
hard to keep the blood back. Time wore on. He eased his trial 
somewhat by directing the scouts to make a stretcher to be used 
when Duke should come with the surgeon. 

Ten minutes passed, — fifteen, — twenty, — a half-hour! Dick 
had become a block of wood, it seemed to him. He wondered if 



THE SCOUTS BRAVER! 



81 



he ever would be able to move again. The injured man ap- 
peared to be resting easier, but his face was deathly white and 
Dick was doubtful if he ever would recover. 

Jim had ridden Duke on a gallop to the nearest town for a 
doctor. He decided that the doctor should ride Duke back to 
the scene of the accident and so he did not exhaust the faithful 




USE OF THE STRETCHER 
How the Injured are Carried by Roy Scouts After Receiving 
First Aid in the Field 

and fleet animal. He had trouble finding a doctor and when 
he did the man was fat and could not ride, so he started in a 
buckboard. Jim continued his search and finally found a 
young physician who could ride and he leaped into the saddle 
the Bov Scout vacated. 



82 THE SCOUTS BRAVERY 

Duke seemed to know that now was his time to show his 
mettle and he hit the trail back at a long gallop. The young 
surgeon passed the fat man in his buckboard like a flash and 
reached the farmhouse before brave Dick gave up his hold on 
the artery. 

He rode into the farmyard and through the gate into the 
field, He dashed up to the group and leaped from the saddle. 
His professional eye took in the situation at a glance. 

"Well done, laddie-buck," he said to Dick. "Hold on just 
a moment longer." 

The surgeon with skilled and certain movements opened his 
case and took out instruments and bandages for tieing an 
artery. He then relieved Dick and the boy stood up, walked 
away, and fainted. 

His comrades placed him on the stretcher and made another 
for the injured man. Dick was faint only for a moment and 
was very much ashamed of his weakness. 

The doctor did his work and was delighted to find a 
stretcher all ready. 

"Say, what kind of boys are you anyhow?" he exclaimed. 

The scouts won his admiration again when they aided him 
to place the man on the stretcher and Big Bill and Red carried 
him toward the house. 

At the house the boys found they were no longer needed 
and prepared to hike back to camp. Jim Hawkins and the 
other horse scouts came up, Jim riding behind one of his com- 
rades. He found Duke none the worse for his long trip and 
mounting, the horsemen prepared to accompany Dick and his 
troop back to the camp. 

Just as the boys were leaving, the doctor came out of the 
house. He told them the man would live. "If that boy had 
not held on to that artery," he said, "the man would have bled 
to death. He fell on a scythe and cut the femoral artery." 



THE SCOUTS BRAVERY 



83 



"Where are you boys going?" 
"Back to camp, sir," said Dick. 

"May I go along? I like you boys and want to hear some- 
thing about you." 

The doctor march- 
ed with the lads and in 
answer to questions 
Dick told about the 
organization. On their 
arrival the physician 
took in the camp, 
its neat arrangement, 
and noted the absence 
of any refuse and that 
the blankets were all 
hanging in the sun. 

"Queerest gang of 
boys I ever saw," he 
thought. "Seem to be 
! worth something." 

Mr. Manning re- 
turned before the doc- 
tor left and he heard 
all about Dick and 
how he had saved a 
human life because he 
had been prepared for 
duty. 

He was mightily 
pleased at the news, and felt repaid for his work. 

"Bravery and the will to do are of no use without knowl- 
edge of what to do," he remarked quietly. 




MAKING A ' ' CHAIR » ' 

Easy Method of Carrying - the Injured for a 

Short Distance 



84 THE SCOUTS BRAVERY 

The doctor said his name was Sterling and he asked per- 
mission to instruct them in first aid. Before departing he 
promised to ride over frequently. 

Mr. Manning complimented Red Joe and Bob and Dug 
for their part in the affair and Dick told eagerly of the work 
the other boys had done, trying to keep out of the limelight, as 
it becomes painful when one is praised overmuch. 

Bed Joe and his friends and Tony accepted an invitation to 
supper, as they were not afraid to go home after dark. Around 
the campfire that evening Mr. Manning told of the wireless 
invention and reported that he had ordered an outfit. Red was 
so delighted that he jumped into the air and rolled on the 
ground. "I always wanted to see one of them," he cried, "and 
now you're going to get one. May I see it?" 

"You will have to work it," said Mr. Manning. "I am not 
a telegrapher and we shall have to depend upon you and your 
friends." 

The scouts w r ere not so intensely interested, for most of 
them did not fully understand what a wireless station would 
mean. 

"We can get messages from everywhere and maybe send 
them," said Joe. "It will be great. We can train the boys all 
over this country and we can talk to them whenever we want 
to." 

Joe did not know, of course, the great part he was to play 
in a world drama with his wireless station. 




THE RIVER BATTLESHIP 

SCOUTS ON THE WATER SWIMMING DRILL TONYS LEATHER 

THONG THE BULL'S WATERLOO. 



CAMP life, when campers know how to camp and are or- 
ganized, grows better every day. When affairs are con- 
ducted in a haphazard way, a camp soon becomes disagreeable. 
Never was there a better camp than that of the Boy Scouts. 
Every day some improvement was made and all was as clean 
as a hound's tooth. Every man had his work and every day 
learned some improved method. 

All hands longed for boats, but there w r ere no boats and the 
boys had no money for even the smallest craft. 

At a council one night Big Mac and some of his friends, 
now regularly organized as scouts, were present. Red Joe, now 
leader of the signal corps of the scout troop, also was present. 

Both Mac and Red, former enemies of the scouts, now were 
loyal to the ideas of organization, chivalry, and helpfulness. 
Mr. Manning liked both the lads and confidently expected 
them to be strong and useful men when they grew up. 



86 THE RIVER BATTLESHIP 

The talk drifted to boats and boating. 

"If we could get hold of some logs," remarked Mr. Man- 
ning, "we could make a raft and have some real sport. We 
could make a sort of battleship, war canoe, or ocean liner, or a 
ferry-boat." 

"I know where there are some logs," said Big Mac. "Just 
the other side of that hole, beyond the bend in the river, are 
some squared logs that have been there for a long time. They 
once were used for some building." 

"Just the thing," said the scoutmaster. "We must try to 
get them." 

The next morning Dick, Mac, and Red Joe left the camp 
early to see about the logs. They found they were owned by a 
farmer. When he knew the boys wanted the logs, he also 
wanted them and would not part with them. Finally Dick 
proposed that the scouts give some work in return. 

"Will you 'bug' that potato patch for the logs?" asked the 
farmer. 

The boys took in the great patch of potato plants with sink- 
ing hearts. It looked as big as the ocean. 

"Give us an hour to decide," they said, and the farmer 
agreed. 

The boys ran back and reported shortly after the morning 
camp work had been done. They described the logs and the size 
of the potato field and the matter was talked over. 

One of the boys, not thoroughly trained in scoutcraft, pro- 
posed that they roll the logs into the stream at night, as the 
farmer never would miss them. 

This idea was denounced by most of the boys. "If we start 
that," they said, "the farmer will drop down on us and we'll be 
in trouble all the time." 

Mr. Manning let the boys work the problem out for them- 
selves. Most of them had "bugged" potatoes and knew what a 
hard job it is. They wanted the raft, however, and finally de- 



THE RIVER BATTLESHIP 87 

cided by unanimous vote to "bug" potato plants for the 
timbers. 

Just as the conference ended Jim Hawkins and five of his 
mounted men rode into camp and they agreed to help in the 
bug raid. 

Only three boys were left at the camp. Each patrol leader 
formed his men and preparations were made for the attack. 

When the farmer saw the well-organized group of boys 
march into his barn lot, he came near falling over with amaze- 
ment. 

Dick did the talking for the troop and made the agreement. 
Cans and buckets were secured. Dick deployed his men and a 
thin brown line of boys stretched across the field. It was dif- 
ferent from "bugging" potatoes all alone. 

"Steady!" shouted Dick. "Forward! March!" 

Never was a field "bugged" in less time. 

"We're scouts," shouted Dick, "and must do this job so well 
that this farmer will know what it means to be a scout." 

Many a back ached, but the lads stuck to the job, and in 
three hours finished it. 

Instead of returning to the camp for dinner, the scouts de- 
cided to go without the meal. They rolled the logs into the 
water and the timbers floated downstream. Of course they did 
not go very far before they were caught in bayous or otherwise 
prevented from going on to the camp. 

Mr. Manning came up at this point and saw the dilemma. 
Only a few of the boys could swim well and he was unwilling 
to let them go into the stream to tow the timbers. 

So well had the farm work been done that the farmer was 
glad enough to give the boys some wire, used commonly for bal- 
ing hay. Mr. Manning went into the water, with Dick, Mac, 
Red Joe and Bill, all of whom were fair swimmers. They got 
the logs together and lashed them with the wire, making a plat- 
form fourteen feet long, which floated high in the water. 




< 
D 

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P 
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* '£ & 

O £H S 

W S ^ 

H 5 "g 
H -rH br. 



THE RIVER BATTLESHIP 89 

The swimmers towed the temporary raft to the shore and 
more than a dozen of the boys were taken aboard. The raft 
carried the load well. 

At the riffles all hands were called into the water to get the 
new ship over the shallow places. As the raft and its load of 
scouts floated down the stream, it looked good to the scouts on 
shore and they were proud of the vessel, even as it was. 

There was great cheering when the craft was brought into 
sight of the camp and was made fast to the roots of a tree at 
the water's edge just above the rendezvous. 

That night at a council around the fire, the boys voted on 
several propositions. It was decided that only boys who could 
swim ten yards would be permitted to join the crew. 

Many names were suggested for the craft, but christening 
was postponed until the timbers were fashioned into a better 
vessel. 

Dimensions of the timbers had been taken and the manner 
in which they should be used was worked out on paper. It was 
discovered that, by splicing, a raft twenty feet long and six 
feet wide could be made. Plans were made for a rudder, a 
wheel-house, a locker, and seats. Boys who were unable to 
swim were to be permitted to go out on the raft as passengers 
and were to remain seated at all times. 

As an additional precaution, coils of rope were to be placed 
on each side of the wheel-house, to be used should any boy fall 
or be forced overboard. Mac, who proved that he was the best 
swimmer in the entire outfit, and the best carpenter scout, was 
chosen temporaiy captain by unanimous vote and Bill was 
named as first mate. Other officers were to be chosen after the 
craft was completed. 

By daylight next day the scouts were out of their bunks and 
getting ready for boat-building. Everyone ran down to see 
the logs before doing anything else. 

All day the work went ahead. Twice Mr. Manning gave 



90 



THE RIVER BATTLESHIP 



swimming lessons. As none of the boys wanted to be merely 
passengers on the boat, they went at the swimming lessons with 
determination and before the day was over four had learned to 
swim fi\e yards, and everyone gained confidence in the water. 
Donald, one of the small boys and not strong for his size, 
came to the front in the water. He learned to swim at once 




AN OFFICIAL INSPECTION 
Though Militarism is Not Aimed At, the Boy Scouts are Taught Sufficient Drill to 

Make a Smart Appearance 

and the next day improved so rapidly that it easily was fore- 
seen that he was to be the champion scout swimmer and diver. 

Only two of the boys failed to qualify as swimmers, and 
when the raft w r as completed everyone was delighted. 

"Call her the 'Potato Bug,' " proposed some of the boys, but 
that hateful title was discarded and all united finally on the 
name "Tenderfoot," as the raft was their first regular boat and 
was an experiment. 



THE RIVER BATTLESHIP 91 

"If Gene were only here, we could get a picture of her," re- 
marked one of the boys, and Mr. Manning heard him. 

"Who is Gene?" he asked. 

"My brother, and he can't walk very well. He's a cripple 
and can't be a scout." 

"Yes, he can," said Mr. Manning. "What can he do?" 

"He has a camera and knows all about photography. He 
won a big prize for taking pictures once." 

"We must have him out here," declared the teacher, and 
that is how Gene, the crippled boy, became one of the most im- 
portant of all the scouts. He took pictures of everything, made 
them into a book and the next winter made lantern slides and 
colored them for a scout stereopticon show that was a great 
success. 

The "Tenderfoot" was the pride of the camp. Scout meth- 
ods of work made her as neat as a log ship could be. Every 
line had its place, the rudder and wheel were works of art, and 
she minded her helm. Long poles were cut in the woods and 
details of scouts were named for poling. Paddles were fash- 
ioned and paddlers appointed. 

Two boys who had proved their ability as map-makers were 
appointed to chart the river and to qualify as pilots. In the 
locker a large tin can with a watertight cover made a water- 
proof case for the charts and for matches and other articles that 
had to be kept dry. The "Tenderfoot" was considered a 
beauty by all the scouts and they were proud of her. Mac 
and Bill, made officers because they were big and fairly good 
swimmers, were determined to hold their places by proving 
themselves good seamen. A mast was set up amidships and the 
colors were unfurled with high glee. 

Most of the boys had learned to swim well and were safe. 
Mr. Manning felt sure that with the training the boys had gone 
through none would be in danger of drowning. 

One afternoon Tony, the Italian trumpeter, and Will hiked 



92 THE RIVER BATTLESHIP 

to a neighboring farmhouse for provisions. Tony now had a 
staff of his own and through the hole at the end he made a loop 
with the leather thong he still carried. 

They bought provisions and were returning to camp. As 
they walked through the field back of the farmhouse they saw 
a farmhand trying to drive a bull into an inclosure. The boys 
sat down to watch the fun, but it soon ceased to be fun. The 
bull became angry and, charging the farmhand, pinned him to 
the side of the barn. 

"Come on, Tony!" said Will, and they ran toward the man 
and bull, taking the precaution to put a fence between them- 
selves and the bull. The man was crying out in agony and 
Will believed that one horn had gone through his shoulder. 

"What can we do?" was the question Will asked himself, 
speaking aloud. He did not have much faith in Tony. 

But the keen eyes of the Italian took in the situation. He 
could not explain in English and so darted away. 

Will followed some distance behind, striving to think of 
something to do. He called loudly for help and hoped some 
men would come from the house, but he feared there were no 
men there. The next thing he saw was Tony's black head at a 
hole in the barn, a few feet from the bull and its prisoner. 

Tony had his staff. He struck the mad beast a number of 
times, but without effect. 

Then he did a clever thing. He saw a ring in the animal's 
nose. He turned his staff about and slipped the leather thong 
around the ring. Next he twisted the staff and the loop was 
tight about the ring. 

This gave the boy a great advantage. He pushed and 
pulled with all his strength, but the tough nose of the bull was 
not affected. 

Will saw the solution Tony had worked out and ran to his 
aid. 

He was a strong boy, with big hands and wrists, and had a 
grip that would have caused many a man to wince. 



THE HIV Kit BATTLESHIP 



93 



"Let me have the staff," he said, and Tony, about ex- 
hausted, was ready to turn it over to his big-fisted companion. 

Will took the stick and gave it a few more twists. "If the 
leather holds, we've got him," he said. He. put such a push on 
the bull's nose, now one way and then another, that the animal, 




A TEMPORARY CAMP 

The Shelter Tents Are Easily Carried on a Long Hike and on Field Days Make Good 

Dressing Rooms for the Athletes 



obeying the accustomed nose pressure, backed up and the man 
fell to the ground and crawled away. 

Will continued to hold the bull until the man had climbed 
the fence and was safe. Then he released the bull by unwind- 
ing the thong about the nose-ring. 

"Tony," he said fervently, "that leather thong is the best 
ever. Every scout should have one." 

The man was not badly injured and the scouts hit the trail 
for camp. 



94 THE RIVER BATTLESHIP 

Experiments made later showed how the leather thong 
conld be used to make a chain of scout staves, by hitching the 
loop of one about the end of the other. 

Mr. Manning had been thinking of the leather thong and 
made arrangements when he was in town to get one for each 
scout, and many handy uses were found for the piece of leather, 
which was strong enough to hold up three scouts. 

Red Joe asked frequently about the wireless outfit and all 
hands were thrown into excitement and joy when a letter was 
received saying that the wireless instruments had been shipped. 
Red Joe, Bob, Dug, and Mr. Manning had been reading and 
studying wireless books and they had the theory pretty well 
mastered. Joe was a marvel at electricity and simply soaked 
up information along that line. He confidently expected to 
set up a wireless station in the woods, which would be in com- 
munication with government stations along the distant coast, 
with ships on the seas, and perhaps with foreign lands. 



* 





CRUISE OF THE RAFT 



STORMY DAYS NIGHT IN THE FLOOD BILLY GOAT ENLISTS 

WRECK OF THE RAIT RELIEF AT LAST. 



SUNSHINE and fair winds are pleasant to recall, but 
rough weather is what brings out mettle in scouts. 

When it began to rain the scouts learned that they did not 
know it all, and even Mr. Manning had overlooked precau- 
tions. But who would have thought that floods would come in 
the summer time? 

Hard work was required to make the camp dry the first day. 
Ditches had to be dug to keep the water out of the camp, and 
every shelter had to be repaired and reinforced. Firewood was 
gathered in large quantities and placed where it would remain 
partially dry. 

In spite of water and mud, the three days of storm were not 
without fun. Stones from the river were placed around the 
fire and paths were made in the camp to prevent the place from 
becoming a mudhole. 




. 





UNOEGANIZED PLAY 

When Boys are Not Organized, but Run Wild, They Often Invite Danger and Get 
Into Scrapes That are Avoided by a Boy Scout's Training 



CRUISE OF THE BAFT 97 

Mr. Manning and the boys expected a flood. The camp 
had been placed high on the bank and it looked as if it would be 
safe. But they had not reckoned on all the things that can hap- 
pen to a river when it gets on a rampage. 

It was the fourth night of the storm when the dam, eight 
miles above, gave way. Tired out, all the scouts were asleep 
and they might have been in great danger had it not been for a 
fortunate event. 

Some of the boys were awakened by strange cries. They 
turned out, to find a poor bedraggled goat standing near their 
camp, bleating a call for help. Evidently the animal had been 
caught in the flood and had somehow reached the shore. 

Soon all the camp was aroused. Danger seemed to be in 
the air and Mr. Manning became uneasy about their situation. 

Mac, Joe, Bill, and Donald, with two other boys, went 
down to see how the Tenderfoot was faring. The craft pulled 
at the line and tugged as if alive. The boys went aboard to see 
if everything was shipshape. Mac looked well to the poles and 
paddles, lines, and rudder ropes, and it was well that all was in 
readiness, as we shall soon see. 

While the boys were on the raft, a great roar was heard. 
In a moment the waters began to rise rapidly. 

"Take to the hill," shouted Mr. Manning, and the scouts 
on shore, grabbing what they could carry and their staves, 
jumped for safety. 

Mac and the boys on the raft had been so engrossed with 
their work that they had not perceived that the river had risen 
so that the tree to which the raft was tied was surrounded by 
water and a rapid current ran between them and safety. 

Some of the boys were about to jump, but Mac told them 
to stick to the raft. He did not know how deep the water was, 
nor how rapid the current. 

The flood came on rapidly and Mac saw that the line which 
held the raft to the tree was too short and pulled the bow down 



d$ 



CRUISE OF THE RAFT 




THE STORY OF THE WRECK 
Big Mac Tells His Chums How the Tenderfoot Behaved in the Flood 



below the water. He paid out more rope and finally all he 
had, and the raft swung around. 

Scouts and every other person should learn that ropes 
always should be strong and sound, from end to end. A rot- 
ten rope, or one with a weak spot, is a snare that is sure to get 
someone into trouble. It is like a boy or man who will tell a 
lie or who has a yellow streak. 

So it proved with the painter of the raft. It gave way and 
the Tenderfoot shot down the stream as if it had been a high- 
power motor boat. 

"We're adrift!" Mac shouted, and the scouts on the bank 
heard him. 

Shortly before the clouds had rolled away and the full 
moon glared down on the breast of the swollen river, with the 
Tenderfoot cruising madly and its almost helpless crew. 



CRUISE OF THE BAFT 



99 



Mac took the wheel and found that the raft would still 
obey, although a clumsy thing for such fine work as appeared 
necessary in this emergency. 

"Here's Tony," shouted one of the boys, and sure enough 
they found the little lad huddled in a corner near the locker 
with his beloved trumpet in his arms. 

"Has he got his horn?" asked Mac. "Tell him to blow all 
the calls he can, so the boys on shore will know where we are." 

Tony was glad enough to help and out over the troubled 
water floated the liveliest kind of trumpet calls. 

Shouts on shore told the drifting boys that the troop w r as 
on the hike. Red and Bill, each with a strong pole, stood by 
to ward off floating logs and other obstructions and so prevent 
a smash that might break up the raft, which was not built for 
such heavy work. 

Several times there w r ere collisions and Mac had everyone 




BIG MAC OFF DUTY 



100 CRUISE OF THE HAFT 

on the lookout. He thought of running her into shore, but this 
was not possible. On one side the water was swashing a steep 
bank, and landing on that side was out of the question. On 
the other side were bottom lands, with a great many trees. Be- 
tween these trees the water rushed with terrific speed. To get 
in among these trees would mean danger. 

"Do you think we can land?" asked Mac of his companions. 
They all said that the raft should be kept in the stream. 

"Look out for the bridge two miles below. The center pier 
is of stone and if we hit that, it's good night!" said John, the 
map-maker and pilot. 

After the first alarm wore away, the boys rather enjoyed 
their wild cruise in the dark. The trumpet calls at first had 
brought responses, but now they could hear nothing from the 
shore. Mac chuckled as he thought of the other fellows run- 
ning through the wet underbrush, while the raft went along 
so easily and he sat, like a real captain of a Mississippi river 
boat, in the comfortable wheel-house. 

He conceived the idea finally of putting out the big pad- 
dles, manned by Bill and Red Joe. This was done and the 
boys discovered that by backing water they could slow up the 
raft, which would be a good thing if a collision was inevitable. 

As bad luck would have it, the moon went behind a cloud 
just as they approached the bridge. Mac saw the center pier 
too late and had just time to swing the wheel around and save 
a head-on collision with the stone obstacle. 

The pointed bow of the raft hit the pointed end of the 
pier and slid around. Bill's paddle was wrested from his 
hand and he came near going overboard. 

It was only for a moment, but most of the boys expected 
to be drowned and many thoughts ran through their heads. 

"Always keep holding on," said Mac. "We may smash 
into something nxvy time." 

In spite of the wallop, the Tenderfoot had received at the 



CRUISE OF THE RAFT 101 

pier, the boys could find no evidence that she was giving way. 
She turned sideways now and then, but by working his lone 
paddle Red was able to keep her headed downstream. 

How far they had gone the boys could only guess. There 
was absolutely nothing in sight from which they could get 
their bearings. The river seemed to be getting broader and 
more like a lake. Mac thought he was in the center but he 
was not. The current had shot him off to the side and all at 
once the raft ran into quiet waters. A minute later the boys 
felt her ground on a soft mud bottom. 

The danger was past and for that the boys were grateful, 
but they were all rather disappointed that the grand ride 
downstream had come to an end. 

It began to "feel like" morning, but no one knew what 
time of night it was. The water was cold and most of the 
boys were barefooted. They got out a towel from the locker 
and rubbed their feet until they were warm. Nothing could 
be found on board to eat and there was nothing to do but wait 
in the chilly night for the light of day. Tonjr sounded his 
trumpet frequently and calls were heard in the distance, but 
Mac said he did not believe the scouts were the ones replying 
and the other boys agreed. 

Time went so slowly that when the first streak of day 
appeared in the east it seemed that they had been on the raft 
for weeks. Bill said he could not remember when he had 
been on shore. 

When the sun came up bright and warm, the boys shouted 
for joy. John said he believed they were four miles from 
camp and in a bottom pasture lot. They were in quiet waters 
and a quarter of a mile from the main current. 

Donald agreed to see if he could reach the shore, a hun- 
dred yards from the raft. 

"I can't swim that far, but I believe I can wade most of 
the way," he said. 



102 



CRUISE OF THE RAFT 



All the lines on board were spliced together, one end was 
passed around the lithe body of the young swimmer, and he 
prepared to step into the cold, muddy water. 

- At this point Mac changed his mind and refused to let 
Don take the chance. "The rope won't reach shore and you 
may get drowned. We can wait here all day and see what 




TONY AND HIS BAND 

Drum Ccrps Organized by the Little Italian Musician, Backed by 

the Boy Scout Troop 

will turn up. Mr. Manning and the trccp should be coming 
up soon. I know they'll keep hiking until they find the 
Tenderfoot." 

Mac was right about that. Some of the boys had become 
exhausted in the long march through the wet woods and had 
built a fire and made a sort of camp, but the scoutmaster with 
the main body of scouts kept on down river, shouting fre- 



CRUISE OF THE RAFT 



103 



quently. Dick had sprained his ankle and dropped out. 
They heard the trumpet calls at first, but finally lost them. 

Because of the overflow the rescuers had to make many 
long detours, and many times had to retrace their steps. They 
must have covered ten miles before they heard again the wel- 
come notes of Tony's trumpet. 

It was now two hours after sun-up and Mr. Manning and 
the boys were about to stop for a rest, when they were cheered 




THE EVENING BAND CONCEET 
Boy Scout Musicians Entertaining Their Comrades in Camp at 
the Close of the Day ' 

on by the glad musical tidings that the Tenderfoot and its crew 
were still in the land of the living. They shouted, but no re- 
plies were heard. They continued their way and kept as close 
to the river as they could, scanning every bit of water for a 
view of the raft. They wondered why they heard no more of 
the trumpet and doubts of the safety of Mac and his men 
again arose in their minds. 



104 



CRUISE OF THE RAFT 



At last they came upon the bayou where the raft was 
stranded in the mud. Then they knew why they had heard no 
more trumpet calls. When the sun warmed them Mac and 
the crew became sleepy and the warm, dry floor of the raft in- 
vited them to rest. Tony dropped off and only Red and Bill 
remained awake when Mr. Manning and the troop were 
sighted, running along the edge of the dark waters. 

Mr. Manning shouted to the crew and found that all w r ere 
well and hungry. 

"I suppose we have just had a banquet," said a boy on 
shore. "We have just come from a Christmas dinner our- 
selves." 

This satire was lost on the raft crowd, because they had 
no conception of the long march the scouts on shore had ex- 
perienced while the sailors were riding easily on the raft. 

The scoutmaster removed his clothing, except his shoes, 
and began wading tow r ard the raft. He expected to find deep 
holes, but was happily disappointed. The water was not over 
four feet anywhere and even Donald could wade to shore. 

All the raft equipment that could be carried w T as taken 
ashore and soon most of the troop w T ere assembled again, a wet 
and bedraggled bunch of bo} r s. 

"Sleep is what we need," said Mr. Manning. A dry place 
was found under a neighboring strawstack and in twenty min- 
utes the scout patrols were sound asleep. 




ONE OF THE HORSE PATROL 




SCOUTS SAVE A SHIP 

GOOD-BYE TO THE TENDERFOOT THE GOAT ON GUARD THE 

SCOUT SIGNAL CORPS — THE SHIPWRECK — IN PRISON. 



IT WAS afternoon when Mr. Manning awoke. He saw the 
young scouts still sleeping, their first all-night adventure 
having exhausted them. He was hungry, and he knew the hoys 
must eat as soon as they awakened. Donald arose just then, 
and taking the little master swimmer with him, the scout leader 
began scouting. 

They made their way to a farmhouse in the distance and 
found the farmer. He accompanied them hack to the swollen 
river and when he saw the raft he wanted to buy it. 

"What'll you sell that thing for?" he asked. "I want it 
for a ferry-boat. The bridge is so far away that a ferry will 
be of use to me even if it is a slow one. Will that boat carry a 
horse?" 

Mr. Manning said it would, and he considered selling the 
good old raft. One by one the boys awakened and joined the 



106 SCOUTS SAVE A SHIP 

men on the shore. None wanted to sell, but when Mr. Man- 
ning showed them that they could not get the raft back to the 
camp, they agreed to sell. A trade was made with the farmer. 
He gave the boys a good meal of ham and eggs, bread and 
butter, and rich milk, with lettuce and other vegetables. 

After being thus refreshed, the patrols hit the trail back to 
their camp, giving the Tenderfoot a sad farewell. It looked 
every inch a good boat as it rested in the water, and the boys 
who had had the wild ride in the flood were almost tearful. 

The return was made by the roads and the camp Mas 
reached about five o'clock. They found the water much lower 
and were delighted to discover that the flood from the broken 
dam had not wiped out their shelters or ruined their supplies. 
Dick and the detachment which had fallen out of the ranks 
during the long march in the dark had been in camp most of 
the day, and it looked very good to the tired boys. The sun 
had dried out the blankets and the rendezvous took on its old 
familiar appearance. The loss of the Tenderfoot was the only 
misfortune that could not be repaired easily. 

Dick had the goat which had awakened the boys the night 
before, and he told how the goat had kept two dogs away from 
the camp stores. This made the goat popular with the scouts 
and they adopted him as a mascot and named him King. 

That day Gene, the crippled photographer, was brought 
into camp by one of the horse-scouts, the little fellow and his 
camera riding behind the horseman. He was too late to get a 
picture of the Tenderfoot, and this the boys all regretted. 

No matches could be found in camp and for the first time 
the boys had to use their primitive fire-making method. The 
firemakers took a pointed stick and whirling it in contact with 
another piece of wood as directed, they got a spark which ig- 
nited tinder from a rotten log. 

The water was too muddy for swimming and the scouts 
would have had a dull time indeed had not the wireless outfit 




02 ,3 

h-f 2 






K o 
i— i t-< 



108 SCOUTS SAVE A SHIP 

arrived. Then Red Joe was the busiest boy in the county and 
easily took the lead. He knew every piece and just where it 
belonged. Naturally a mechanic, he had studied with good 
will, and Mr. Manning saw that Joe and his friends Bob and 
Dug would make good as signal scouts. 

On a high tree in an open place Joe fixed the anemone, the 
wire device which collects the electric waves from the atmos- 
phere. Mr. Manning taught the boys how to climb the tall 
tree by means of a "life-belt" and a wire. The belt was placed 
around the tree and around Donald, who was chosen to make 
the first climb. The wire was twisted about the trunk, loosely, 
and the end made a loop for the climber's foot. By lifting up 
his foot Don forced the wire upward. Downward pressure 
caused it to catch on the bark and he went up a notch. 

Gradually sliding upward and safely held by the life-belt, 
he reached the first high branches. He had carried up a small 
rope and with this he dragged up a ladder made of rope and 
sticks. This enabled Joe and the signal electricians to go 
aloft and do their work. All insulation necessary was arranged 
for and the thin wire placed where it would collect the waves, 
or send them outward. But the plan failed to work and the 
labor was all done over again. To get the anemone away 
from the tree, a long wire was stretched to another high tree- 
top and half-way between them the apparatus was placed, free 
from leaves and branches. 

It was all interesting work and in three days Bed had his 
wireless station established. The very first night flashes were 
received and the boys were awed by the wonderful thing they 
had created. They were in touch with the great world beyond 
the river. 

The signalmen worked almost night and day, studying 
and perfecting their apparatus. 

One night, not long after they had learned how to receive 
and to send the code, the boys were sitting around the fire. I f 



SCOUTS SAVE A SHIP 



109 



was a beautiful, calm summer night and the whole world 
seemed peaceful. 

All at once the wireless began to buzz and to flash. Joe 
sprang to the instrument. Again and again he received 
snatches of messages. Bob and Dug were standing nearby 
and the entire camp was spellbound because Joe appeared to 
be so intensely absorbed in his work. 




PIKE WITHOUT MATCHES 

Getting the Spark and Producing a Flame to Start the Burning of 

Dry Twigs and Sticks 



"Here is what I get," he said, handing a written message 
to the scoutmaster. 

Mr. Manning read the following : 

"Steamer* — Help — Lon. — Lat. 30. Storm — Leak. Must 
have help." 

"There is great confusion somewhere," remarked the sig- 



110 SCOUTS SAVE A SHIP 

rial scout. "We seem to be the only one getting messages. 
This ship is in trouble somewhere on the ocean. 1 have replied 
that we are hundreds of miles from the coast." 

Mr. Manning asked Bob if he could send that message over 
an ordinary wire, and the scout said he could. "Then take Bill 
and Mac and go to that railroad station three miles to the 
north," was the order. "If you can't find the operator at once, 
break through the door and get someone on the line." 

This was enough for the signal scout and the boys detailed 
to go with him, and they started at once. John, the guide, wha 
had a compass, was added to the party, being the best one in 
the troop for making his way in the dark. 

Joe continued to listen and to w T rite, working intently and 
oblivious to his surroundings. "There is a ship grounded near 
some bay," he said at last. "The sender don't seem to know 
where they are. We are the only ones he can raise. I am going 
to relay the message as nearly as I can." 

With this the scout began sending as rapidly as he could. 
Flashes were seen on the wires high in the air. It was a most 
exciting time. Only a few nights before some of the scouts had 
been in a storm on the river. Now all was calm about them and 
they were hearing the cries for help from a sinking ship hun- 
dreds and perhaps thousands of miles away. 

"Near Bradley Bay. Fifty passengers, women and chil- 
dren." This, written on a piece of paper, was handed to Dick 
by Red Joe, w T ho was sweating as if he were in a stokehole. 

"That locates the wreck," said Joe, taking off his receiving 
hood. "I don't know where Bradley Bay is, but someone must 
know. I don't believe they can get the life-savers." 

Mr. Manning wrote a message as follows: 

"Editor New York Chronicle: — Amateur wireless ope- 
rator received message of shipwreck near Bradley Bay. Call 
for help. Can you get this message to the proper place in the 
world?" 



SCOUTS SAFE A SHIP 



111 



He handed it to Joe, who read it and nodded. Dick was 
directed to take a squad including Dug, the signal scout, and 
make all haste to the town, where the message was to be sent 
to the far-away Xew York editor at all hazard. 

Joe returned to his work and received the same cries for 
help time and again. The night wore on and only the flashes of 
the wireless apparatus appeared in the air. About midnight, 
he jumped to his instrument. 

"Inland wireless station. Shipwreck message received. 
Bay located. Help is sent," was the message he received, and 




STAETIXG THE FLAME 

It Takes Only a Few Minutes to Secure the Desired Result by This Scout 

Method of Fire-Making 



he handed it to Mr. Manning. It was signed "Speed, tele- 
graph editor." 

"Cheer, boys," said the scoutmaster. "Dug and Dick have 
sent their message and the wreck has been located." 

Tony sounded his trumpet, and the boys shouted. 

"Silence," called Joe, and the boys instantly were quiet 



1 1 2 SCO UTS SA VE A SHIP 

"They want to know where we are," he said. 

"Tell them," said Mr. Manning, and Joe sent to the editor 
their location. 

"Reporter starts for camp at once," was the reply, and 
that ended the messages from the editor. 

All were tired out by this time and all except J oe turned 
in. The signal scout stuck to his post the remainder of the 
night, but received no additional information. 

When Bob and his squad plunged into the darkness, they 
were determined to reach the station and do their very best. 
It was a lonely station and apparently was deserted. Mac 
struck a match and saw the telegraph instruments inside the 
office. The boys knocked loudly on the door, but no one re- 
plied. 

Finally they decided to break the window over the tele- 
graph desk. They hit the glass and it came down with a crash. 
Bob crawled through and had just touched the instrument 
when he was grasped by a man who apparently arose from the 
floor. 

"Throw up your hands, you tramps!" he shouted, flashing 
a pistol. The boj^s did as they were told. 

"We want to send a message that is important," said Mac. 
"Light the lamps and we will show you that we are all right." 

"I'll plunk you full of holes," was the surly reply. 

How it would have ended if a new factor had not entered 
the situation, cannot be told. A trackwalker appeared at that 
moment and lighted the lamps. 

When the men saw that the intruders were boys they put 
away their pistols and were more reasonable. 

Bob told about the wireless message and the shipwreck, and 
the two men laughed long and loud. "Shipwreck!" cried the 
man who had grabbed the signal scout. "That's a pretty tale. 
Tell it to the judge tomorrow. I'm going to put you kids 
where you won't break into any more railroad stations." 



SCOUTS SAVE A SHIP 



113 



With this he made the hoys line up and marched them 
to an old toolhouse nearby, and locked them up in the dark 
greasy place. 

Dick and Dug had 
better luck. In the 
town they awakened 
Dick's father, on the 
road to the telegraph 
office, and he went with 
them to send the mes- 
sage. It was received, 
and an answer sent 
back to Dick. The 
boys spent the re- 
mainder of the night at 
Dick's home, his moth- 
er giving them some- 
thing to eat, as they 
were hungry after their 
long march. 

While Dick and his 
squad of scouts slept 
happily, poor Bob and 
Mac and their com- 
rades were prisoners in 
a miserable dungeon, 
hot and tired, and suf- 
fering for lack of light 
and good wholesome 
fresh air. 




THE CAMP FUEL SUPPLY 
Big Mac of the Boy Scouts Showing His Skill 
with the Ax 



When morning came, the scouts at the camp speculated 
about their missing comrades. Dick, they knew, was among 
friends if he reached the town, and the message indicated that 
he had been at the telegraph office. Nothing was heard of Bob 
and Mac's squad, however. 



114 SCOUTS SAVE A SHIP 

Dick and his friends slept late and had a good breakfast at 
his home, the folks being glad to have him home again. They 
could hardly believe the wireless story, however. It was almost 
noon when the scouts left the house and went down toward the 
railroad station to buy some supplies for the camp. 

At the station they saw a crowd. The sheriff was there. 
"Bringing in some young burglars," he said. "Caught them 
last night at the cut-out station. Regular young ruffians, I 
hear. Glad they're prisoners." 

The boys waited for the train, curious like the other people 
standing about. When the train arrived the people gathered 
closer. 

"There they are!" was the word that ran through the crowd 
as the railroad men climbed down the steps. Behind them, 
with their hands bound, were poor Bob, Bill, Mac and John, 
very dirty and tired. 

"Don't they look like robbers?" said a bystander. "See 
their faces! Anyone would know they were bad." 

Dick and his crowd were inclined to resent this, for they 
knew why the boys were prisoners. 




A MIGHTY NIMEOD 




SCOUTS AS EXPLORERS 

SIGNAL BOYS IN COURT FREE AT LAST THE REDBIRDS' HIKE 

THE DISCOVERY AN INTERNATIONAL CAMP. 



DICK sent one of the scouts to the camp to summon Mr. 
Manning and the patrol leader started on the run for his 
father's office. Mr. Crockett was a lawyer and Dick thought 
the impending trial of his comrades called for a lawyer scout. 
His father was a true scout, poor because he was a just man, 
always fighting for justice. 

Bob and his friends were taken to the local jail and locked 
up until the justice of the peace could be found and court con- 
vened. 

Jim Hawkins, riding Duke as usual, was sighted by Dick 
on the way to find his father and he asked the young horseman 
to ride to the camp and get Mr. Manning. Jim had brought 
another horse to town to have it shod and was leading it home- 
ward. This extra horse came in handy, for it gave Mr. Man- 
ning a mount, which enabled him to get into town quickly. 



116 SCOUTS AS EXPLORERS 

Mr. Crockett could not be found and Mr. Manning had not 
yet reached the courtroom when the young scouts were brought 
into the room, a dingy office which depressed the boys, accus- 
tomed to the open air and the freedom and freshness of the 
camp. 

After numerous papers had been signed, and a lot of things 
done which the boys did not understand, the railroad office man 
testified. He told the story as the reader knows it, and de- 
clared that the boys had told an impossible lie about a wireless 
message and saving a ship at sea. 

The trackwalker corroborated the story of his friend. Mac 
and Bob were so angry and hurt that they felt like crying out 
that it was all untrue. But they remembered that a scout is 
patient and cool, even if he has had no rest for twenty-four 
hours and endured torture in a suffocating toolhouse on a hot 
night. 

At last the signal scouts were given an opportunity to tes- 
tify. Once they would have been excited and angry, and per- 
haps shedding tears. But now they were scouts and, drawing 
on their will power, the boys determined to maintain a dignified 
bearing and to quietly tell the truth. 

Bob and Mac testified first in a simple direct fashion, and 
then Bill and John were called. Big Bill caused a good deal of 
amusement by going to sleep and falling out of his chair. Be- 
ing a big boy and growing rapidly, he needed rest badly, and 
being absolutely sure of the honesty of his position he went inno- 
cently to slumberland. 

"Bound over to the grand jury," said the justice after hear- 
ing the case. "I fix their bonds at $1,000 in each case." 

Dick had been looking everywhere for his father and at last 
found the well-known lawyer. He knew Dick's truthfulness 
and had complete confidence in his son. So they hastened to the 
courtroom. About the time they arrived Mr. Manning put in 
his appearance, having come in on Jim's extra horse. 



SCOUTS AS EXPLORERS 117 

When Mr. Crockett entered the courtroom, the justice and 
others sat up and took notice. With his skilled legal methods 
he learned what had been done and laid out a campaign. He 
threw the court around in another direction and declared that it 
was an outrage to imprison boys without notifying their parents. 

"That boy Bob," said the sheriff, "is a young villain from 
the brickyards up the river, and should be in jail. I know him." 

Mr. Manning confirmed the story of the signal scouts and 
told the complete story of the scout camp, the wireless station, 
and the remarkable work of Red Joe, Bob, Dug, and the other 
boys the night before. While he was testifying someone came 
in with the afternoon newspaper. It contained, in a dispatch 
from New York, complete confirmation of the scouts' story. 
It also told about the shipwreck, and how a vessel had reached it 
in time to save many lives. It said further that the wireless sta- 
tion operated by some boy scouts, at a distant point inland, had 
been the means of saving the big vessel. 

Nothing succeeds like success, and the boys who a few min- 
utes before had been looked down upon as young burglars now 
became heroes. All the scouts were somewhat disgusted, and 
were eager to get back to camp, and away from such a fickle 
crowd and such a court. They knew nothing about the laws and 
the courts, but they felt, in their boyish hearts, that something 
was wrong when boys trying to do right were locked up. 

As they made their way back to camp, Mr. Manning pointed 
out how often men and boys are imprisoned unjustly, simply 
because they have no money or powerful friends. 

"If Mr. Crockett had not been there," he said, "the boys 
probably would have spent another night in jail and perhaps 
would have been marked as jailbirds for life." 

That night, after supper, the scouts again sat around the fire 
and discussed the adventures of the last few days. 

"There is one thing true," said Mr. Manning, "Scouts 
should be prepared, physically and mentally. To be prepared 



118 SCOUTS AS EXPLORERS 

physically, each of us should make the most of the body we 
have, keeping our muscles and digestive organs in good work- 
ing order. 

"Smoking and intoxicating drinks, of course, handicap the 
body and sometimes ruin it. Alcohol burns out the finest cells of 
the brain and unfits a boy or man for living. It finally will re- 
duce him to the level of a beast. 

"One of the most important things about the mind is to real- 
ize that it is subject to the will. Every scout should understand 
that his mind, as well as his body, is subject to the high power 
within him. Scouts should train their minds. Fear is the worst 
enemy. If we can be brave, we will never be tempted to lie, to 
steal, or to cheat another person, and we will have the courage 
to live in poverty, if that is necessary. I think most crimes are 
committed because men are cowards and afraid. 

"When we came out to this camp we did not know we were 
to be tried so many times. Adventure has come to us and we 
have taken things as they came. I have seen you boys in some 
trying positions, but I have not seen any of you break down 
when the call to duty came. The thing I like best about the 
troop is that most of the boys are cool-headed, seldom afraid, 
and that we are all getting stronger in mind and body. A man 
who is not afraid cannot be made dishonest." 

Two days later Will and the Redbird patrol decided to make 
an exploring trip to the west. John the mapmaker and Bob of 
the signal corps were detailed to go with the explorers, making 
a party of ten boys. Equipped with their staves, well-filled 
haversacks, pocket axes, and pocket knives, the Redbirds set out. 
At the last moment Tony, the Italian trumpeter, who had 
proved his worth on several occasions, asked if he might go 
along, and the Redbirds were glad to have the faithful little 
Italian, who no longer was "Dago," but a full-fledged comrade 
of the troop. He took his trumpet, and Big Bill, who was in 
the patrol, carried the small boy's haversack. 



120 SCOUTS AS EXPLORERS 

John had a pocket map of the county and of the state, and 
as they went along he made notes by means of which he could 
work up a route-map later at the camp. 

When the troop was less than a mile from camp they heard 
a dog howling mournfully. They followed the sound and dis- 
covered a poor animal tied to a bush. The dog was a halfbreed, 
evidently part Newfoundland, and was of large and powerful 
frame. Indications were that some cruel person, desiring to be 
rid of the dog, had tied him in the woods to starve to death. 
He was tied with a chain and pieces of wire. In vain had the 
dog prisoner gnawed at his metal bonds and at the bush. 

He was overcome with joy at the sight of the boys, and 
frisked about like a jolly comrade when Will cut the bush with 
two or three well-directed blows of his pocket ax. Bill took out 
his pocket-knife and quickly severod the collar. 

"I don't believe in putting collars on dogs," he said sav- 
agely, for he had the softest heart in the whole patrol and 
always was doing kindness for smaller boys and animals. 

"What'll we name him?" shouted the boys, delighted with 
their new friend. The dog ate bread and meat greedily and 
some of the scouts were so generous that they gave him most 
of their own rations. After his meal the dog ran to a pool 
nearby and drank heartily. This finished, he came back and, 
walking up to Will, gravely lifted up his right paw to shake 
hands. The scouts "swore him in" and the dog became a mem- 
ber of the Redbird patrol, under oath to relieve suffering, help 
others, to keep cool, and to do his duty at all hazard. 

"He was tied under a hickory tree," said Bill, "so let's 
name him 'Hickory.' ' This was unanimously agreed upon 
and the dog answered his name the first time. He appeared to 
like Bill the best and obeyed him promptly and with wagging 
tail and smiling mouth. 

"He's big enough for Tony to ride*" said one of the boys, 
admirinsf Hickory. 



122 SCOUTS AS EXPLORERS 

' 'Every time our troop does the square thing," remarked 
Will, as the boys trudged along, "we get stronger." 

"Yes," said Bill. "There was that fracas with Mac at the 
spring, with Red Joe, the farmer boys, and little Tony. They 
have all joined the scouts and have all helped us out of scrapes 
one way and another." 

"I wonder what Hickory will do!" continued Will. "I'll 
wager my staff that he'll make good some way." 

"He's already made good," declared Bill, as he stroked the 
head of the big dog, trotting contentedly by his side. 

"I wish we could discover a raft," remarked one of the 
boys. "I liked the Tenderfoot and wish we could get another." 

"Maybe we can discover one today," replied a comrade. 

"How are you going to discover a boat on dry land?" 
shouted some of the boys in derision. 

All forenoon the Redbirds trudged on, John advising a 
circular course which would bring them back to camp, making 
the second lap of the tour shorter than the first. They passed 
several villages and saw many kinds of work under way, on 
farms, in shops and factories. They discovered several small 
tributaries of their river, and one of them had quite a fall of 
water which the boys named "Baby Niagara;" and so it was 
designated on John's maps and became a landmark for the 
scouts of that region. 

About eleven o'clock the boys came upon a big job of work, 
the construction of a railroad embankment. It seemed as if 
thousands of men were at work and hundreds of horses. There 
were tents, cook-shacks, tent stables, and scores of box-cars on 
a side-track where the workmen lived. 

It was like discovering a great army and the boys were 
greatly interested. The Redbirds split into two bodies and 
Will took his squad and went one way, while Bill went with 
the other detachment. They determined to circle the job and 
to report when they met on the other side. 



SCOUTS AS EXPLOREBS 123 

One of the "timekeepers" told Will that the workmen were 
mostly foreigners. u We have Italians, Hungarians, Greeks, 
Bulgarians, Macedonians, Japanese, Irishmen, Slavonians, and 
yesterday a small bunch of Hindus came in. 

"Them East Indians ain't much good though," he added. 

In the tents the boys discovered that there were foreign 
families, and that there were many boys of their own age play- 
ing about the great camp. Others were carrying water, pick- 
ing up tools, and doing other work for the railway. 

Tony had learned a great deal of English and at the camp 
of Italians he talked with a lot of boys. Of course Will and 
the others did not know what he was saying, but they saw the 
young Italians look at them in the most friendly fashion. They 
felt sure Tony was telling his young countrymen about the 
friendly scouts. Tony said the Italians wanted to join the 
scouts. 

They discovered boys who could speak no English at all, 
who a few weeks before had never known anything about the 
United States. Their fathers, being courageous workingmen, 
had brought their families to this country, to improve their 
condition and make a home in the land of the free and the 
home of the brave. 

Bill, with his friendly ways, made great headway with the 
foreigners. He found one truly remarkable young fellow. 
This lad, although but nineteen, was a student at the state 
university. He was interpreter for the railway job and was 
earning money with which to pay his expenses at college. 

"He can speak almost all the languages there are," reported 
Bill, when the two squads met. "He has promised to go back 
to the camp with us. The boss gave him a half-day off." 

Bill's new friend was introduced to the scouts. He said his 
name was Boris Tobivitch. "I have heard of the Scouts 
American," he said, politely. "I would see your camp at once. 
It is good to know." 



124 



SCOUTS AS EXPLORERS 



On the way to the camp, Boris interested his new comrades. 
He was born in Russia. His father had been driven out of his 
native city by the cruel Russian officials and the secret police. 
All his younger days Boris had been a fugitive — now in Rus- 
sia, now out of it. His father was a revolutionary, fighting for 
freedom in his native country. Once he was a college profes- 
sor. Boris had learned almost all the European languages 
fairly well and could read, write and speak fluently eight of 
the best known tongues of the continent. 

Will and the other Redbirds felt as if they had indeed 
made a capture, and were eager to get to camp and to show 
their friendly prisoner to Mr. Manning and the other scouts, 
Boris and Hickory appeared to like the scouts. 

They were well pleased with the results of their explora- 
tion, the discovery of the big camp and the alliance with the 
young Russian revolutionary. 



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COOn SCOUT TIMBER IX Tlll-l SOUTH 




AMBASSADOR TO THE CAMP 

VISITOR FROM AFAR OLD FRIEXDS MEET SCOUTS OF MANY 

TONGUES INVITATION TO GO ABROAD. 



WHEX the Redbirds came into camp, Hickory imme- 
diately became the center of interest. 

"Where did you get him?" "What's his name?" "What 
are you going to do with him?" "Whose is he?" and other 
questions were asked from all sides. 

Before the dog's story could be told, Will introduced Boris 
and Mr. Manning and they began talking. 

As supper was prepared the explorers reported the day's 
adventures. Everyone was interested in the international 
camp on the railway, and plans were discussed for the entire 
troop (including the horse-scouts and the signal corps) to visit 
the work. 

Just as the scouts were sitting down to supper, a young 
man made his appearance. Mr. Manning met him and the 
stranger introduced himself. 



126 AMBASSADOR TO THE CAMP 

"I am Briggs, of the New York Chronicle," he said. "1 
was sent to find your camp and to write about the boys who 
saved the ship Speedwell. Is this the place?" 

He was assured that he had found the wireless station. 

"I was lost two days," he explained. "The message you 
sent was received in pieces and we made an error in reading 
it." 

He was invited to sit down and have supper, and accepted, 
adjusting himself to the camp like the campaigner he was. 

Just as he began to eat, he stopped and the boys saw him 
gazing at Boris. He spoke rapidly, in a tongue none of the 
scouts understood, and Boris looked up quickly. The Russian 
replied in the foreign language, and the two young men arose 
and embraced one another, as the custom is in some European 
countries. They seemed to forget the others and talked rapidly 
and earnestly. 

Later the scouts learned that Briggs had been in Russia for 
two years as a newspaper correspondent, and had joined the 
revolutionary party of which Boris' father was a leader. They 
had become well acquainted and the newspaper man knew 
Boris as a boy. 

Boris' father, it was learned, was then hiding in Europe and 
striving to reunite his forces for overthrowing the Russian 
despotism and the establishment of a republican government, 
like that of the United States. 

After supper the scouts and the men talked until a late 
hour. Little Gene was brought into prominence by the splen- 
did photographs he had made ; and the newspaper man bought 
a score or more of them to be used in his account of the camp, 
its wireless apparatus, and the remarkable part these inland 
boys had taken in a shipwreck at sea. 

"The owner of the Chronicle," said Briggs, "is greatly in- 
terested in the Scouts, and I expect to arrange with him to have 
Mr. Tobivitch give up his work with the railway company and 



AMBASSADOR TO THE CAMP 127 

organize the foreign-born boys at the railway camp into scout 
patrols. The idea is to teach international brotherhood. I have 
seen war in Cuba, the Philippines, South Africa, Asia, Russia 
and was present when the Chinese Emperor gave up his throne. 
I want to tell you boys there is nothing in this war business. 
It kills off the best men and leaves the sneaks. It is a cowardly 
thing at best for one man to shoot another whom he has never 
seen and with whom he might be friendly." 

The next day the visitors departed and the boys were filled 
with regret. The two young men had seen a great deal of the 
world and were most interesting to the scouts. 

Within a week Mr. Tobivitch sent for the entire troop to 
visit the railway camp. Preparations were made and all hands, 
including Jim Hawkins and the horsemen, started at sun-up 
for the international rendezvous. Gene, the crippled photog- 
grapher, was mounted behind Jim on the strong back of Duke. 

Hickory and King the goat were also taken along. Will 
agreed to remain at the camp to look after affairs there. 

At the big railroad camp Boris was found with fifty boys 
gathered in a grove. He spoke to them in their various lan- 
guages. The Japanese boys he could not address in their na- 
tive language, but these bright little fellows had learned a great 
deal of English. Aided by the scouts, the foreign boys were 
organized into patrols. To each leader Mr. Tobivitch gave the 
scout law, written on a piece of board, the writing being in 
their various languages and in English. These boards were 
carried on leather straps and were to hang over the shoulder of 
each patrol leader. 

It was great fun for all, and the scouts learned that foreign- 
born boys are just like those in this country, and some of them 
they discovered were even smarter than average American boys. 
They were more patient and more persevering in some things. 

That was not the last international day in which the scouts 
participated. Boris enlisted the people of the adjacent town 




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AMBASSADOR TO THE CAMP 129 

and the country around, and a great play festival was ar- 
ranged. Most of the foreign campers had musical instruments, 
brought from their home countries, and some were excellent 
musicians. 

News of the program spread far and wide and on the great 
day thousands were present. From the foreign camps had 
come musicians and gymnastic performers, and folk stories 
were dramatized. Flags of all nations, with the stars and 
stripes at the peak, were used to decorate the grove. Songs in 
foreign tongues were sung, choirs from churches in the city 
participated, and school-children gave their songs and marches. 

Scouts of America, Hungary, Japan, Macedonia, Bulgaria, 
Italy, and Greece fraternized and worked together, directing 
the crowds. The boys gave exhibitions of firemaking without 
matches ; first aid ; resuscitation of drowning persons ; rescue of 
persons from burning buildings; wigwagging, and wireless 
telegraphy, and Hickory and the goat went through a very 
clever performance the boys had taught them. They gave also 
a dramatization of "The Lion and the Lamb Lying Down To- 
gether," Hickory being the lion and King the lamb. 

By this time the members of the Eagle, Redbird and Bear 
patrols had made friends among the foreigners and had learned 
many foreign words and phrases ; Italian being the easiest, be- 
cause some of the scouts had studied Latin at school. It was 
marvelous to know boys who had played around the ruins in 
Athens, or who had walked many times over the ground where 
the Battle of Marathon was fought. 

Late in the afternoon a horse ran away. It was hitched 
to a two-seated buggy. It charged toward a lot of other horses 
and people, and a smash-up seemed inevitable. 

Jim, the horseman, was in the course of the maddened ani- 
mal. It was his custom to mount his own horse, Duke, by 
grasping the saddle and, giving his mount the word, jump on 
as the horse galloped. He thought this would be a good time 



130 



AMBASSADOR TO THE CAMP 



to try his little stunt on a runaway. As the horse approached, 
Jim began running. He raced with the horse and grabbed the 
backhand. With a spring he vaulted upon the back of the ani- 
mal. There he was perfectly at home. Gathering up the 
reins, he stood up on the shafts and brought the trembling 
animal to a standstill in short order. 




FIRST AID FOR A COMRADE 

Hickory, the Boy Scouts' Dog, Is Carefully Treated After Meeting 

With an Accident 

Just before leaving the camp Hickory was injured. A 
horse stepped on his foot. The first-aid men went to work 
and the faithful dog was cared for as if he had been a human 
being. He could not walk and so the boys made a stretcher, 
and in spite of all advice to the contrary they carried him back 
to the camp that night. 

An international swim was the feature of the next big day 
with the scouts, Boris bringing all the foreign boys to the scout 
swimming-hole. 



AMBASSADOR TO THE CAMP 131 

It was now midsummer and the scouts were thinking about 
the end of their outing. Mr. Manning pointed out, however, 
that the end of the summer camp was not the end of their 
camping. 

"A scout is a scout, even when he is asleep," he said. "This 
fall we must build our log-cabin and we can be here in the 
coldest weather. I always like winter camping better than any 
other." 

This was a new idea and helped the boys contemplate the 
prospect of school without so much regret. 

There was something else to happen, however, of great im- 
portance. One day Mr. Manning received a big official-look- 
ing envelope. He read it three or four times, and then placed 
it carefully in his pocket. Although curious to know what it 
said, the boys were too well trained in scoutcraft to ask ques- 
tions about letters another person had received. 

Just before turning in Mr. Manning called the entire troop 
together and read the letter. It was as follows : 

"Mr. Manning, Scoutmaster. 

"Dear Sir: — We know all about your troop and the service 
your wireless operators gave us the night our ship was beached 
in the storm. 

"Many lives were in danger and we faced a pecuniary loss 
of thousands of dollars. As it turned out, a tug reached the 
ship and pulled it off the bar before it was broken by the waves. 
We are grateful and desire to express our appreciation. 

"We desire a list of the boys in your troop and we invite 
the entire organization to go with the 'Speedwell' next June on 
its annual trip to the Mediterranean Sea, which will take eleven 
weeks. We should like to know if you accept the invitation. 
Please let us know by the first of the year, so that we may make 
arrangements for your party. 

"The World Steamship and Transportation Co." 



132 



AMBASSADOR TO THE CAMP 



If the moon had come down and taken a seat at the campfire 
the boys would have been no more astonished. Of course they 
could not decide at once. Their parents had to be consulted 
first. 

Mr. Manning dispatched a letter to the steamship com- 
pany and thanked them. 

"The Cruise of the World Scouts," is another story, too 
long for this volume. Of course the troop took its trip abroad 
and had many exciting adventures. They became more effi- 
cient in scoutcraft, and as they grew stronger they became 
better boys. It often was said of the scouts, "We are always 
glad to see them." 

"A good scout," remarked Mr. Manning one day, "likes 
people and they like him." 




IN THE LAND OF BANANAS 




#*•,•;* r ms^^sm 



TRAINING OF BOY SCOUTS 



BY SIR FRANCIS YANE, BT., J. P., GENERAL SCOUTMASTER OF THE 
BRITISH BOY SCOUTS. 



UP TO now we have been treating the child as a lunatic, 
and the feeling has been often reciprocated. The Scout 
movement means this, — that as the churches try to bring in 
the children when their brains are most receptive, so we are 
now getting the children to be good citizens, at the same age 
and by practical methods. 

There are two fundamental principles which determine the 
whole question, and one secondary principle. 

1. The child craves for adventure, color, experience. He 
does not get it usually, or when he gets it, it is by illicit means. 
All that he knows or sees of virtue is drab and colorless. He 
is tired of this thing. 

2. The child is born into this world free from racial or 
class prejudice, and he only acquires these vices because we 
grown-ups are saturated with them. 



134 TRAINING OF BOY SCOUTS 

K 

Let us remember that a child's day is about four times 
longer than a man's. Half of this lengthy period (more than 
half of a man's week) is given up to forced study. He is a 
passive resister all the time. The remainder of his time is 
given over to himself, as a rule subconsciously a rebel. He 
courts excitement, adventure, — and he is told not to make a 
noise, or to go out and play some regulated game. He wants 
to be a knight-errant, but for lack of direction he more usu- 
ally becomes a brigand. We in the Scout movement try to 
direct his energies to saving rather than to destroying. We 
know that the leader in the play hours is more really influen- 
tial than the tyrant of the class, and we think it a pity that up 
to now no thought has been given to suggesting to the boy 
some playtime leader other than that obtained by happy 
chance. 

Children know no distinctions, therefore I presume God 
did not intend that we should be divided — for as it has been 
said, "of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." But we divide, 
we vulgarize, we degrade the children, until they become so 
prejudiced that only the fortunate among them, those who 
travel and see life, ever return to their natural point of out- 
look. Then you and I, by pain and suffering, have become 
"men of the world." Why not let the youngsters be as they 
were made — children of the world — World Scouts. 

Now the call of scouting appeals to every boy and girl, 
because of what has been said above. It is a universal call to 
the young of all races and therefore should be treated univers- 
ally. I say this is a universal call because I am prepared to 
claim this for myself — that I know intimately more chil- 
dren of various races than any man of my age. For thirty 
years I have in many countries been a sort of Pied Piper, and 
always the little people have been with me — in a war. There- 
fore what has been put into our hands — this appealing cry for 
the young — must be treated universally or else it will be used 



TRAINING OF BOY SCOUTS 135 

as all other "fraternal" principles have been used — for narrow 
ends. Scouting in many countries has already been used for 
narrow ends, because there has been no World Council to 
guide it. 

To give a pertinent example: — In 1910 I raised Boy Scouts 
all over Italy, as an Italian division of the World Scouts. I 
presented them to the King, and in a long conversation I had 
with His Majesty before, I told him quite frankly I could 
have nothing to do with any Scouts except World Scouts, and 
asked the King to be patron and president of the Italian divi- 
sion of the World Scouts. 

He accepted this office with enthusiasm, saying that it 
was just what we wanted — the young of all countries modeled 
on the lines of the old Catholic Knights of St. John and of 
the Temple. But as soon as I left Italy one branch of my 
World Knights, that of Genoa, under a certain Colonel, broke 
away and became the little village-pump soldiers whom we are 
all so accustomed to see— cadets or what not. It was a dero- 
gation of a great weal. 

I am altogether tired of social or racial conflicts got up 
by interested men for their own purposes and by suasion get- 
ting the bulk of the people to fight for what they do not know, 
and to kill people whom in most cases they could have loved. 
And all the time starving out of existence the tender young 
of their own race by the expenditure which is part of modern 
warfare. Also, I think it wicked to allow little boys and girls 
to believe that physical warfare is inevitable. 



From the very first moment of his novitiate as a scout the 
boy is encouraged to observe and to deduce from observation. 
This is fundamental, of course, to all good scouting. You 
may notice two little men marching down the street, and their 
alertness may attract you. If you inquire what they are do- 
ing, you will find, perhaps, they have been sent to discover if 



136 



TRAINING OF BOY SCOUTS 



there are any cripples requiring assistance or any blind men 
needing guiding. Or it may be they are searching for fire 
alarms to report where they are, or for the police or ambulance 
stations. Or they may merely have been sent to observe any 




SIE FRANCIS VANE, BART. 

General Scoutmaster of the British Boy Scouts, Who 
Has Organized Scout Patrols in Many Countries 



peculiarities in the street and to make a report on these, or for 
practice purposes the articles in the shop windows are to be 
noticed and reported on verbally. Everything is done with 
the object of sharpening the boy's intelligence, powers of ob- 
servation, and sense of responsibility. 

But the training is much wider than this, for, in fact, the 



TRAINING OF BOY SCOUTS 137 

handicrafts, the arts and sciences are brought in to make him 
a good scout. To enable the scouting human boy to find his 
way at night, he is taught something of the mystic movements 
of the stars; to be a hunter he must know how to build huts, 
bridges, and even boats, to light fires and to cook; he learns of 
trees, of plants, of the birds and beasts of the field, and he 
studies field-sketching to enable him to report on the country. 

Again, he is especially instructed in ambulance work, 
life-saving, fire-brigade work, and the way to stop runaway 
horses, for is he not a hunter to find means of helping others, 
a little knight-errant of to-day? 

Then he is encouraged to learn history, for he must know 
what his predecessors, the knights and pioneers of past times, 
have done, to learn by their example. And always his eyes are 
kept busy and the little brain behind his eyes at work to direct 
his hands to works of usefulness. 

As an auxiliary to education, it has this great advantage — 
it finds out what the boys' inclinations are. We all know that 
in our schools, with their classes composed of twenty to even 
sixty boys, it is almost impossible for the teacher to discover 
the individual tastes of each of the students. This discovers 
itself, as the French say, in scouting. 

Then there is no system imposed by the authorities ; it has 
been, on the contrary, adopted with enthusiasm by the boys 
themselves, a voluntary system of education in which the stu- 
dent co-operates with the teacher. 

Now, therefore, we have a scheme, popular, unique, and 
religious, not a military scheme, but one of civil training; we 
have the boys ready to learn, but what we have not yet found 
are the leaders. We have a unique system and a unique op- 
portunity of national improvement, and all that we require 
now is for the elders to come forward and help us to guide 
this great work. I most sincerely hope that all those who have 
done me the honor to read this article will go further, and 
study the system adopted by the World Peace Scouts. 



138 TRAINING OF BOY SCOUTS 

Besides the excellent Scout training, which is moral, phy- 
sical and mental, the central principle is unity based on the 
obvious fact that children are not born either racial fanatics 
or snobs, until we make them so, and the best t ay to counter 
this evil disposition of the grown-ups is by enrolling them in 
a world brotherhood, active, colored, and adventurous. 

Moreover, to prevent this work derogating to particular- 
ist ends, militarism or what not, it will be necessary to have a 
world council to guide the work and this is one thing I am 
hoping to establish. I consider that your great Republic is 
the very place to plant this idea and though I have been 
preaching this doctrine on the other side for many years I 
know until we have it in the United States we cannot consider 
the thing established. 

My experience in addressing, as I have, hundreds of boys' 
meetings of various races, goes to show that the very best 
antidote to the bellicose spirit is found in World Chivalry. 
I was going to say almost the only antidote, because there is 
no other one which gives a vent for the child's love of color 
and adventure. 





THE GIRLS' CLUB 

BI -;;crr T r :r for — - — - — - 

THE CLUB- ITS OBJECTs AND pB0QHAM _ 

Edna Howland^t wSl ^Wft tf ^ ^ friend 

deep frown on Edna's face and ? ^ she Sm 'P rised a 

"Why, Edna How£ r s l f f- *' ^ ° f dissatisf -tion. 

matter with you? You 00 h t if "T^ Whate ^isthe 

wh t r h T d t ° B #-^a^ a *- - - 

a can t help it, Ruth," said Edna "TV • 
about some of the o- od Am« i> JUSt been rea ding 

I got to thinking C J ST "v."' 6 " thdr Cl " bs - d 
having real fun § i lt thS V V , * When Jt COmes to 
Scouts have, for one W If e " '^ W the ^ 
nothing to do hut lessoned do J' ""*** UP at h ° me > ^ 

sil ^ things with no fun in them S ;,T d ,r ng 7 ; JUSt * lot ° f 
worst of it." at aiJ ' We certainly get the 



140 



THE GIRLS' CLUB 



"Oh, I don't know," said Ruth cheerily. "I guess that if 
we wanted to, we could manage to have just as good times as 
the boys. Perhaps not the same kind of good times, because 
most girls don't like just the same things boys do, but good 
times of our own — doing the things we like and that will do us 
good." 




STAETING THE GIRLS' CLUB 
Ruth Crockett Suggests to Edna Howland That They Call on Mrs. Spencer for 

Help in Organizing 



"Now, if we only could," said Edna, jumping to her feet 
and letting smiles take the place of her gloomy frown, "it 
would be a great thing for us girls. I know lots of us feel 
the same way that I do about it. But how can we manage to 
arrange things so as to get even with the bovs?" 



THE GIRLS' CLUB 141 

"Well, Edna," said the older girl, "you remember that 
when the Boy Scout patrols were organized in this town, the 
boys took the advice of Mr. Manning, the school teacher who 
had been a soldier, and you know how well they got along after 
that. I think we had better try to find some grown-up person 
to help us girls form some sort of a recreation society or club." 

''That's a good idea," said Edna, "and I think I know 
somebody that would help us, and be glad to do it." * 

"Who is that?" inquired Ruth eagerly . 

"Why, Mrs. Spencer, our new neighbor at the corner of the 
block. I was with my mother when she called on her the other 
day, and she told us about a whole lot of societies and clubs that 
she has belonged to. And, now that I come to think about it, 
I am sure she said something about a girls' club, and what a 
good thing it was for the girls in some town she used to live 
in." 

"All right, Edna, I'll tell you what we'll do. Let's go right 
out and get some more of the girls and then go to see Mrs. 
Spencer and tell her we want her ifo help us and perhaps be the 
leader of our club, if she will, just as Mr. Manning is the leader 
of the Boy Scouts." 

It was no sooner said than done. Out raoed the two girls, 
after Edna's mother had been notified that they had a great 
plan on foot, and pretty soon an excited group of girl friends 
tripped through the gate of the Spencer home. Most of their 
mothers had called on the new neighbor and all appeared to 
have acquired a decided liking and respect for her. 

A sudden hush and a feeling of embarrassment fell upon 
the group of girls as they sto^d upon the porch awaiting an 
answer to their ring at Mrs. Spencer's bill. 

For the first time they realized the importance of their mis- 
sion and wondered if they were doing the right thing, in choos- 
ing this comparative stranger as a guide and counselor. But 
they were not left long in suspense. 



142 THE GIRLS' CLUB 

1 1 was an hour or so after* school had let out and a perfectly 
proper time for an afternoon call. Mrs. Spencer, becomingly 
gowned, answered the bell herself, and beamed a smile of 
cordial welcome upon the group of young girls. She was nat- 
urally a lillk' bit surprised at such a visit in force, and a little 
curious as to its object, but recognizing several iii the group 
and calling some of them by name, she hade them all a hearty 
welcome and invited them to enter. 

"First of all, come in and make yourselves comfy, girls, 
and then you can tell me all about it. Cor I see you have some- 
thing rather important on your minds." So saying, Mrs. 
Spencer led them into her neat and tastefully furnished parlor, 
where all speedily found seals. 

Ruth Crockett had been chosen by ihe girls to speak for 
them and she lost no time in beginning. 

"We hope you will excuse us, Mrs. Spencer," she' saiel, "for 
rushing in on you like' this, but we* want to organize a girls' club, 
so thai we' can have some' good times together, like' the hoys elo 
in their Scout patrols, and we have- been iolel that you know 
whal girls have done' in other towns, and se) may he able' to help 
us go ahoul it right. If we* are' mistaken, we are sorry to have 
troubled you, and will just go away and forged it." 

"Why, my dear girls, 1 am delighted with the idea that you 
have called e>n me for such a purpose. I am honored by your 
confidence and 1 believe 1 can help you as you wish." As 
Mrs. Spencer said this, all feelings of diffidence and embar- 
rassment disappeared from the minds of her visitors, and she 
soon had them feeling perfectly at home and glad they liael 
come. Then she' continued : 

"In my younger days I often felt as you do, girls, that the 
boys had a good deal the best of us in matters of recreation and 
especially in outdoor pleasures and amusements. And I have 
seen quite' a number of girls' clubs organized to even up mat- 
ters in this respect. When properly conducted these clubs have 



THE GIRLS' CLUB 



I v.i 



been most successful and I believe you have the material here 
for a splendid club of the kind. Sometimes they are called 
Little Mothers' Clubs and aim principally at making their 
members good little mothers and clever housekeepers, but if 
you call your club simply The Girls' Club, it will be a suitable 
title for every purpose." 

This was carry- 
ing things fo r ward 
with a rush, but it 
suited all the girls 
and Mrs. Spencer 
then taught them 
how to appoint a 
chairman and the 
gathering became 
a businesslike meet- 
ing. It was de- 
cided to organize 
the club a n d 
Ruth Crockett was 
elected president by 
the unanimous vote 
of the girls. Edna 
Ilowland was made 
secretary and Mrs. 
Spencer agreed to 
act as club leader 
and direct all their 
activities. 
Before the girls 
left for their homes Mrs. Spencer gave them all a good idea of 
the things they might learn through the club and Edna wrote 
out a list of them as follows: 





1 


mm M ^^ wk 


•„.* 


lL : # ^ 


1 

1 


1 





A P0PULAE I DMA 

Spreading the News of the Organization of 

the Girls' Club 



1U THE GIRLS' CLUB 

1. How to conduct meetings. 

2. How to design and make dresses. 

3. How to cook and keep house. 

4. How to take care of a real baby. 

5. How to entertain. 

6. How to nurse the sick and give first aid to the injured. 

7. How to play basket-ball and indoor baseball. 

8. How to practice gymnastics. 

9. How to make life happier and brighter for members of 
the club and all other persons. 

It was agreed to hold meetings regularly every week, or 
oftener for special purposes, and to spend as much time as pos- 
sible together in the open air. The girls also agreed to do some 
kindly act to others each day, as a token of their club spirit. 

Mrs. Spencer suggested that all the girls should tell their 
parents at once about the new club and explain what they pro- 
posed to do, and get their full permission to belong. 

"You must never let the club work or amusements interfere 
with your home duties," she told them. "The girl who attends 
to her home duties best will be the best member of the club. 
But we will all try to help one another — stick together, as the 
Boy Scouts do — and try to make life happier and more inter- 
esting for each one of us, and for all who know us." 

And so, with great enthusiasm, the girls scattered to their 
homes, each member of the club feeling that a new source 
of brightness had come into their lives, and that in future they 
were going to have just as good times as the boys. 





A DAY IN THE OPEN 

A GOOD START FOR THE CLUB— THE GIRLS' ENTHUSIASM— ADDI- 
TIONS TO MEMBERSHIP THE BENEFITS OF EXERCISE VISIT 

TO A FARM. 



THE week that followed the fruitful visit to Mrs. Spencer 
was full of interest for the girls of the club, who saw 
each other every day and were never tired of discussing plans 
for the future. 

They learned that their new leader, whose full name was 
Mrs. Emily B. Spencer, was a graduate of a modern woman's 
college, where she had studied the art of living right, of keep- 
ing healthy, and of helping others. She had learned the theory 
and practice of domestic science and of hygiene — the science 
of health, and was well qualified to be their leader. Besides 
this, she soon had the confidence of their parents, who recog- 
nized her ability to do helpful work among the girls. 

Before the end of the week nearly twenty girls had joined 
the club. Several of these were sisters of bovs who belonged 



146 A DAY IN THE OPEN 

to Scout patrols — and they were the most enthusiastic of all. 
Among them were Grace Haskins, Jean Dunham, Helen 
Thompson, and the Hawkins sisters, Alice and Freda, who 
lived on a farm near the town and soon applied for member- 
ship when they heard about the club. 

Mrs. Spencer knew the importance of keeping the girls 
interested, and during the week proposed that on the first Sat- 
urday, which was a holiday, the club should take what the boy 
scouts called a "hike" into the country. 

"There is nothing like proper walking exercise to develop 
a girl's strength and give her a graceful, upright carriage," she 
said. "In all our cities and towns there are women and girls 
who find it a trying task to walk more than a block or two and 
think they must take a car or a carriage when it would do them 
all the good in the world to walk. They do not try to develop 
their bodies as Nature intended and from lack of exercise they 
gradually become weak and what is called anemic. They are 
pale and feeble. It is a burden to them even to walk upstairs 
and prolonged effort of any kind is impossible, because of the 
shortness of breath that always follows lack of bodily exercise. 
Then, too, their looks suffer and all you girls should know that. 
We all want to look our very best at all times and no girl can 
look her best unless she is in good health and strong through 
activity. 

"So I propose," continued Mrs. Spencer, "that we start 
off as a club next Saturday by taking a good long walk in the 
country — and we shall be sure to find plenty of things to inter- 
est and amuse us." 

The idea was eagerly welcomed by all the girls and they 
began to look forward to their first "hike" with deep interest. 
Of course, there were arrangements to be made and each girl 
agreed to carry her own lunch. Mrs. Spencer instructed them 
to take substantial sandwiches, or something equally satisfying, 
and not merelv cake or cookies, reminding them that an unac- 



A DAY IN THE OPEN 



147 



customed walk in the fresh country air would give them all the 
appetites of hunters — or of hoy scouts, which are equally keen 
and perhaps more so. 

When the Hawkins girls heard of the proposed trip, they 
consulted with their mother and then invited the girls to stop 
for lunch at their farmhouse. But fearing that they might in- 




THE COOK STOVE IN THE WOODS 

Where the Members of the Girls' Club Spent Many Happy Hours 

in Healthful Eecreation 



convenience the kindly folk at the Hawkins home, the girls 
decided to take their luncheon at some chosen spot in the woods. 
They agreed, however, to call at the farmhouse in the after- 
noon and some of the town-girls were well pleased with this 
arrangement, because they wanted to see what life on a farm 
is really like. 

Eight o'clock on Saturdav mornine; found fifteen of the 



148 A DAY IN THE OPEN 

girls assembled in Mrs. Spencer's front yard, ready for the 
"hike." At their leader's suggestion stout shoes were worn by 
all and most of the girls were equipped with sweater coats and 
attractive woolen caps, for the morning was cool and bracing. 
Each had her package of lunch slung over her shoulder by 
means of a strap, so as to leave both hands free, and a few car- 
ried light walking canes which they had borrowed from fathers 
or brothers for the occasion. 

"That's good, girls," said Mrs. Spencer when she saw these 
canes. "A cane can often be made useful on a long walk, espe- 
cially if it has a crook at one end. You all know how useful a 
shepherd finds his crook, and a stick of some sort often gives 
relief in walking. The mountain climber must have his alpen- 
stock and though we have no Alps around here to climb, I think 
we might adopt a light, strong crook-stick as part of our out- 
door club outfit." 

"That will be fine," said Ruth Crockett, gaily. "Then my 
brother won't be able to crow over me any more about his Boy 
Scout staff." 

"And why shouldn't we carry canes?" said Emma Dunham. 
"It must be fashionable sometimes, because I have seen lots of 
pictures of great ladies with walking-sticks." 

"Well, we will not carry them just on account of fashion, 
girls," remarked Mrs. Spencer dryly, "but because we expect 
to find them useful in emergencies." 

The girls noticed that the popular leader was most suitably 
dressed for the outing in a close-fitting walking suit of light 
corduroy, short-skirted, with cap to match, and high-laced shoes 
that fully protected the ankles. Strapped over her shoulder 
was a light but capacious leather bag and a pair of flexible 
chamois leather gauntlets completed the appropriate and at- 
tractive costume. 

"Now, if we are all ready, girls, we'll get started," said Mrs. 
Spencer, and instructing them to walk two -and- two and to pre- 



A DAY IN THE OPEN 



149 



serve a regular line of march, she mentioned the general direc- 
tion in which they were to proceed and the girls filed quickly 
out of the gate, headed by Ruth Crockett, as president of the 
club, with Mrs. Spencer bringing up the rear, where she could 
keep an eye on the entire line. Edna Howland, the secretary, 
walked with Ruth, who set a brisk pace, and the line soon 




THE STEPPING STONES 

One of the Scenes of Natural Beauty Found by the Girls ' Club 
on Its First "Hike" 

cleared the streets of the town and entered upon a country road 
that led to a considerable patch of woods some four miles away. 
At first all the girls stepped out strongly, with heads erect, 
and laughter ran down the ranks. Filled with the joy of young 
life, they felt the pleasure of a new experience and the charm 
of Nature at an hour when, on a holiday, they were generally 
still in bed. 



150 A DAY IN THE OPEN 

The songs of the birds, the sight of the farmers at their 
spring work in the fields, the budding trees and fresh greenness 
of pasture and meadow, all conspired to add to their delight and 
every girl felt glad that she had joined the club and was going 
in for regular outdoor exercise. 

But after the first mile or two had been covered, the pace 
began to tell upon some of the younger and weaker girls and 
gradually a hush fell upon the line. Little feet began to drag 
and the gaps between the pairs of walkers became less regular. 
Conversation ceased as thoughts began to turn to the distance 
yet to be covered before the woods were reached, and the 
change was soon noted by the leader. 

"I think we had better stop and rest awhile, girls," said Mrs. 
Spencer, loudly enough to be heard all along the line. "Here is 
a good place to sit down, under the fence, and it is perfectly 
dry." 

The girls, nearly all well pleased to halt for rest, soon seated 
themselves, and Bulb Crockett said with a laugh, "This shows 
that INI vs. Spencer was right when she said we are forgetting 
how to walk and how to climb stairs. I know I'm jolly glad to 
sit down." 

"It will be wise lor us to 'go slow' on this first trip, and not 
overdo it," counseled Mrs. Spencer. Although in the pink of 
physical condition herself, and able to walk ten miles or more 
without fatigue, she realized that her girl charges were not in 
training and that she must not expect too much from them. 

"It is just as bad to overdo it, when taking exercise, as to 
do without it," she continued. "And so we will stop and rest 
frequently today. After awhile I expect to see every one of you 
able to walk several miles without tiring — and you will be much 
the better tor it too. 

"While we are resting T will just remind you that there are 
two tilings common to all mankind — walking and talking — 
and most people do both very badly. They walk badly and 



A DAY IN THE OPEN 



151 



their bodies grow bent and crooked, or they slouch along as if 
they had no pride in them. Our figures are largely what we 
make them, by our style of walking, our method of breathing, 
and the like. I recommend the study and practice of 'deep 
breathing' to all of you and also that you learn the best way to 
carry the body in walking. Any girl can illustrate what writers 




A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPER 
Domestic Work That May Seem Tiresome a1 Home Becomes Fun 

in the Woods 



call the poetry of motion, if she will only take pains to walk 
correctly and secure grace of movement through exercise." 

"That is something we would all like to do," said Grace. 
"And I'm sure the club will be a big success if it only teaches us 
to walk properly." 

Mrs. Spencer then told them of the gymnastic exercises that 
might be taken by girls and women to improve their carriage 



152 A DAY IN THE OPEN 

and figure, and said she would start them no such exercises in 
the following week. 

"What did you mean, Mrs. Spencer, when you said that 
most people talk badly as well as walk badly?" asked one of the 
girls. 

"I mean that most people are as careless in talking as they 
are in walking," replied the leader. "They use bad grammar 
and fill their speech with silly, meaningless slang — and seem to 
think it smart to do so, instead of trying to speak their own 
language correctly. Girls are almost as guilty as boys in this 
respect — but that is something I want to discuss soon at one 
of our meetings in town, so we will not say any more about it 
now. And if we all feel rested, suppose we make a fresh start 
for the woods." 

All the girls jumped up as she spoke, refreshed by the brief 
rest and determined to make the woods at the next attempt. 
They had, so to speak, got their "second wind," as the athletes 
say. 

Ruth Crockett was wise enough to set a somewhat slower 
pace this time and in due course the woods were reached. A 
clear, dry spot was selected and here the girls decided to estab- 
lish their headquarters until after luncheon. Nearly all had 
brought along folding drinking-cups and two of the girls vol- 
unteered to get water and borrow some sort of kettle from a 
farmhouse about a quarter of a mile away, while others said it 
would be only fun to make a fire. Mrs. Spencer had thought- 
fully provided matches, which she produced from her leather 
bag, together with enough beef cubes to make hot bouillon for 
all in the party. This insured the success of the luncheon and 
the little housekeeper in high glee set about making a fire to 
boil the kettle which the farmer's wife willingly lent them. 

While the fire was being built and coaxed into action, some 
of the girls scattered in search of the violets and primroses of 
springtime. Mrs. Spencer permitted them to do this, but 



A DAY IN THE OPEN 



153 




GETTING CLOSE TO NATUEE 

On a Country "Hike" Interesting Scenes Like This Are Found and Pleasant 

Surprises Are Frequent 



warned them to keep in pairs and said no girl must on any ac- 
count separate from her companion. She produced from her 
bag a small silver whistle, of shrill sound, and instructed the 
girls to return to the campfire as soon as they heard the whistle. 

"These rules and instructions are for your own good, girls," 
said the prudent leader, "and I want you all to give the most 
cheerful and prompt obedience. And as the club lesson of to- 
day, just carry home with you the good thought and resolve, that 
perfect obedience to parents, teachers and leaders is the first 
duty of every member of the Girls' Club." 

It was not long before the note of the silver whistle re- 
sounded through the woods, and the club reassembled around 
the little campfire, which had done its duty well, so that there 



154 A DAY IN THE OPEN 

was a steaming cup of nourishing beef bouillon for each girl. 
It was an unexpected addition to the lunch and a very welcome 
treat, which testified to the kind and thoughtful nature of the 
chosen leader. Mrs. Spencer well knew how prone young- 
girls are to carelessness in matters of diet and had resolved to 
make this a subject for club training in the near future. 

Some of the girls had succeeded in finding small bunches of 
violets, while others had discovered a few straggling primulas. 
A neat bouquet was soon made up and lovingly pinned on Mrs. 
Spencer's corsage and then "all hands" sat down to lunch. 

For a few brief minutes little was said, save in praise of the 
bouillon, but as the excellent appetites were satisfied, all the 
picnickers began to speak at once. There were expressions of 
delight at the club idea, at the weather, at the woods, at the jolly 
little fire, at the squirrels that shyly nosed around on the out- 
skirts of the crowd, at the new leader, at the prospects of future 
activities — and finally at the Boy Scout movement that had sug- 
gested this girls' indoor and outdoor club. Mrs. Spencer sat 
smilingly, listening with deep satisfaction as the girls opened 
their hearts to one another, the ice completely broken and the 
true club spirit rapidly taking possession of each and every one. 

At length she interposed in the conversation. "Now, girls, 
I think we had better be on our way. You know we have prom- 
ised to call at the Hawkinses' farmhouse, and I want to get 
you all home before dark on your own two feet." 

It took only a few minutes to get the party under way again. 
The fire was completely extinguished, at Mrs. Spencer's direc- 
tion, with the remainder of the water, after the debris of the 
lunch had been burned, and the kettle was returned with thanks 
to the farmer's wife. Then a detour through the woods, led by 
Ruth Crockett, who was best acquainted with the lay of the 
land, brought them within sight of the Hawkins homestead, 
where they found Alice and Freda Hawkins, with their neigh- 
bor Annie Baldwin, waiting to bid them welcome and show 
them the wonders of the farm. 



A DAY IN THE OPEN 155 

And here they spent a delightful hour. They saw the spot- 
less dairy, with its hig shining pans of milk and cream, and 
learned how churning was done and the butter put up for mar- 
ket. They inspected the barn and visited some frisky calves 
that had just begun to take an interest in life. They saw the 
stock in the pastures and admired the sleek horses and well-fed 
cattle. They fed the chickens and were delighted to discover 
eggs in the nests and others in out-of-the way places. They 
investigated the windmill and the pump, and roamed at will 
through the big farmhouse, finding a special delight in the big, 
clean kitchen, where Mrs. Hawkins regaled them with delicious 
products of her oven and whole pitchers full of the sweetest 
milk — and when they finally left it was with more friendly feel- 
ings for the girls of the farm and a cordial invitation from the 
Hawkinses to "come again." 

Faces were then set homeward, and after a sturdy tramp of 
three miles in the early dusk of the spring day, the Girls' Club 
ended its first successful outing where it began — at Mrs. Spen- 
cer's gate. Tired but happy, and with shining faces that were 
warmly welcomed at home, the girls separated, with kisses for 
their clever leader, and a parting injunction from her to let no 
day pass without doing some act of kindness to remind them- 
selves and others of their membership in the Club. 

This was the first, but by no means the last, picnic of the 
Girls' Club in the woods near town. Before the summer was 
very old they had discovered an old cookstove in another part of 
the wood, half a mile from their first campfire, and when this 
was thoroughly cleaned the little housekeepers prepared some 
more pretentious luncheons, for which their Boy Scout friends 
and brothers carried out the needed utensils and dishes, getting 
a share of the feast in return. And here cooking became a sport 
and even dishwashing was mingled with fun — and parents soon 
found that the work and associations of the Girls' Club made 
their daughters more useful at home, more willing to help in the 



156 



A DAY IN THE OPEN 



household work, more cheerful, more obliging — better and hap- 
pier little women. 

On one of their long walks, as the girls gradually became 
more accustomed to the strenuous exercise and traveled farther 
afield, they came across an old windmill of the Dutch style of 
architecture. They were greatly interested in it, and learned 
all about the working of such mills. 

At another time they discovered a curious foot bridge sus- 
pended from wires stretched between large trees on either bank 
of a stream. They explored the river for miles in either direc- 
tion and had great fun in crossing a riffle on stepping-stones. 
They learned to know many birds and animals that had been 
strange to them, and found a source of unfailing pleasure in 
learning the names of trees, plants, and flowers from their ac- 
complished leader. Each trip unfolded new mysteries and 
delights of Nature and added to their store of knowledge. 




A SOUTHERN GIRLS' CLUB MEMBER 




MOTHERS GET BUSY 

GYMNASTIC TRAINING FOR THE GIRLS A GIRLS' FIELD DAY 

THE MOTHERS' CLUB ORGANIZED FIRST AID TO THE IN- 
JURED A CLASS IN SHOPPING AND DRESSMAKING. 

DURING the following week Mrs. Spencer called the girls 
in to see her one at a time. She had taken a gymnastic 
and physical culture course at college, and believed that every 
girl and every woman should have a strong, graceful body as 
a fitting habitation for a fine mind and true womanly char- 
acter. 

The girls were glad to fill out cards indicating their physical 
condition. Some were found to stoop in their shoulders, which 
restricts the lungs and tends to make one unhealthy. Others 
had ungraceful manners and many lacked altogether the proper 
physical development possible for girls of their age. 

It was soon learned that Mrs. Spencer had a great deal of 
scientific medical knowledge, having studied physiology and 
medical subjects. For this reason the girls and their mothers 
gave her their full confidence and she became most influential 



158 MOTHERS GET BUSY 

with her young friends. Each girl was given certain individual 
instructions as to exercises, deep breathing, how to walk, how to 
rest, and how to maintain a serene mind. 

"I have heard how the boy scouts are trained to be cool," 
said Mrs. Spencer to the girls. "That will be a good thing for 
them, but a girl or a woman has greater need for a cool mind 
than have boys or men. We often have more difficult work to 
do and more depends upon our manners. I believe the greatest 
thing in the world for girls is to stop worrying or fretting. 
Doctors have discovered that the women who do not worry nor 
fret have the best health, a happier life, and make others 
happier." 

She asked each girl to see how many times in one week she 
could suppress the irritable expression and keep all worry out of 
her own mind. Many of the girls found that the new plan was 
a great success. They discovered that their brothers w r ere 
calmed by their altered behavior, and that even their mothers 
were kinder. An immediate effect was perceived in every 
household represented in the new Girls' Club and the girls dis- 
covered a new power which smoothed out many hitherto dis- 
agreeable places in their lives. 

In the rear of Mrs. Spencer's home was a pleasant garden. 
As soon as the weather became settled, the club leader formed a 
gymnastic class and frequently the girls were entertained in 
the garden, where they were taught pleasing and effective 
exercises. Sometimes they used wands and sometimes scarves 
to make the movements more effective. 

Then, a month before school was to close for the term, Mrs. 
Spencer and the girls of the club made plans for a field day, 
just for the girls of the school. Members of the club became 
teachers and many groups were formed. There were to be run- 
ning races, tugs of war, Maypole ceremonies, folk story 
dramatizations, singing, and marches. All the girls were de- 
lighted. In practising running, some of them gained such speed 



MOTHERS GET BUSY 



159 



that they were certain they could defeat many of the boys of 
their class. 

Finally the great day arrived. The spring sun was bright, 
the leaves had just come out, and the day was a beautiful one. 
Tents had been erected on the school ground and many flags 
floated to the breeze. The girls of the club, aided by others, 
had made banners and the race courses were marked by pretty 
flags in the colors of the various classes. 

Because they had been organized and had learned how to 
manage, the club girls were in complete charge of the arrange- 




CALISTHENIC EXEBCISES 

Class Instruction Designed to Improve the Carriage and Secure 

Gracefulness of Motion 



ments, and the teachers praised them highly. Each tent was the 
headquarters of some committee, with a girl in charge who knew 
all about the details of the field day. In this way all confusion 
was avoided and the program was carried out pleasantly. The 
club girls gave their wand and scarf drills, the Boy Scout band 
supplying music for these events. 

After the program had been given, all the mothers and 



160 MOTHEBS GET BUSY 

teachers present met and talked over plans for the further or- 
ganization of the girls. Mrs. Spencer, who had made a special 
study of this new idea, spoke to the mothers and teachers and 
told about the club she had already organized and which had 
just successfully managed the first girls' field day the school had 
ever held. 

''Teachers have so much to do," she said, "that they cannot 
do this extra work. It must be done by the mothers." As a 
result a Mothers' Club was organized and plans made to meet 
once a week at the schoolhouse. Thus Mrs. Spencer brought 
about both the Mothers' Club and the Girls' or Little Mothers' 
Club. 

Just as the meeting adjourned an alarm was given. A six- 
year-old boy had climbed up in a tree and had fallen down. He 
cried aloud in agony. Women ran to him, but none knew what 
to do. A physician was sent for, but before he arrived Mrs. 
Spencer and members of the Girls' Club reached the little boy. 
Mrs. Spencer picked up the child. Her girls were proud of her 
when they saw how confidently she took the little boy and ex- 
amined him. She discovered that he had a sprained ankle, and 
gave him first aid. Two club girls then formed a seat by cross- 
ing their hands and the little fellow was carried to a neighboring 
house, where a physician found him shortly afterward, his pain 
having been greatly eased by the expert work of Mrs. Spencer. 

As they walked home Mrs. Spencer told the girls about first 
aid to the injured and how every girl can learn methods to re- 
lieve pain in an emergency. "It does no good to simply feel 
sympathy for an injured person," she said. "All of us should 
know what to do when people are hurt. We have all heard how 
Dick Crockett, the boy scout, saved a man from bleeding to 
death. If he had not been taught first aid, the man would have 
died, because none of the men present knew what to do. Girls 
can be just as useful and we must take up the study of first aid, 
if young girls want to learn how to help others who are in pain." 



MOTHERS GET BUSY 161 

The girls were eager to learn first aid and a class was or- 
ganized. They learned these methods with greater ease than 
did the boy scouts, because for centuries women have had to 
take care of the sick and wounded and they instinctively like to 
help m this way. 

Mrs. Spencer's class gave an exhibition after school was out, 
the guests being a company of physicians. All the doctors 
praised the girls and told them that they would find these meth- 
ods of great use all their lives. 

But the best idea suggested by Mrs. Spencer was for her 
reception. "I intend to give a big reception," she told the girls. 
"All your mothers will be invited and a great many other good 
people. I want you to help me manage everything and 
you girls must be here on the afternoon and evening of the re- 
ception. It will be your reception as well as mine and your 
names will be on the invitations." 

It was three weeks before the day of the party that Mrs. 
Spencer mentioned her plans to the girls. They at once began 
planning. "First we must have new T gowns," their beloved 
leader said. "It is getting warm and we can make our own 
dresses." 

All the mothers were pleased with the idea and many sug- 
gestions were considered by the club at Mrs. Spencer's home. 
First, a complete color scheme was adopted and then it was de- 
termined that the girls' dresses should harmonize with this 
scheme and with one another. 

Just at this time a friend arrived to spend a month with 
Mrs. Spencer and this lady proved to be a perfectly wonderful 
person. She had been to college and had traveled in Europe 
with Mrs. Spencer a few years before. Her name was Mrs. 
Sanford, and she had made a special study of domestic science 
and also of designing. She entered upon the work of prepara- 
tion for the reception with energy and enthusiasm. 

One day, after the girls had decided upon the color and 



162 



MOTHERS GET BUSY 



materials for their reception gowns, Mrs. Sanford took the 
entire cluh on a shopping tour. She knew everything about 
materials and prices and what amount would be needed. She 
surprised the girls by taking them directly to the proprietor 
of the biggest store in town. 

"We intend to buy material for dresses for each of these 
young women," she told the astonished merchant, who rubbed 




AT THE RIVER BEND 

A Springtime Scene That Delighted the Girls from Town 

on Their Health-giving Jaunt 



his hands together and smiled a welcome. "We would like to 
have a special price and we want the very best materials." 

This was a new way of shopping. Mrs. Sanford knew the 
names of all kinds of dress goods, domestic and imported, and 
samples of many kinds were shown to her. She submitted them 



MOTHERS GET BUSY 16:* 

to the girls, who in spite of some embarrassment considered the 
different samples intelligently. 

They had not observed a well-dressed man who stood near, 
apparently waiting for the merchant. lie overheard the con- 
versation and after all the samples had been examined, he asked 
the merchant if he might speak to him. 

The two men walked away a short distance and held an ani- 
mated conversation, figuring on a pad of paper and waving 
their hands in a most amazing way. Finally they returned, 
the stranger carrying a case such as traveling salesmen take 
with them on their trips. 

He drew from its depths a dozen samples, which he showed 
to Mrs. Sanford. She passed them on to the girls, who were 
charmed with the beautiful fabrics and their texture. It was 
material made abroad and the salesman proposed to sell it at a 
price which the girls said would suit them and the money they 
had for this purpose. 

It was all arranged with dispatch. The goods were shipped 
from the wholesale house on telegraphic orders and were deliv- 
ered in two days. 

Mrs. Spencer's house became a veritable beehive imme- 
diately. Mrs. Sanford made sketches and colored them to show 
just how different styles would appear. She used the fashion 
magazines for suggestions, but they all were in favor of some- 
thing original. In the talks some of the girls showed surprising 
originality and good taste and their ideas were adopted and 
worked into the designs and patterns. 

Measurements were taken and the cutting began. With 
skilled hand Mrs. Sanford cut out the goods, each girl taking 
advantage of the opportunity to learn all she could about such 
an interesting and important work. 

"My father had five daughters," said Mrs. Sanford. "He 
could have engaged professional dressmakers to make all our 
clothing, for he was a rich man, but he said that every woman 



164 



MOTHERS GET BUSY 



should know how to make her own clothing and so all of us 
learned to sew, to cut, to design, and to judge and buy 
materials. 

"We have since found our training most useful. It has been 
a pleasure to us and we have aided many less fortunate women." 

Each girl took her material, all cut and ready for sewing, 
and hastened home. Aided by their mothers and by one 
another, they made rapid and satisfactory headway with their 
dressmaking. 

It was great fun and the mothers were surprised at what 
their small daughters had done under the skillful coaching of 
Mrs. Spencer and her guest. Similar methods were used in the 
decorations and in preparing the refreshments. 

Every detail was planned and all preparations were made. 
Each girl of the club had learned so many things that everyone 
felt sure she could manage a reception at her own home. They 
all waited eagerly for the great day of the reception. 




THE OLD DUTCH WINDMILL 



A CLUB RECEPTION 

NOTABLE GATHERING OF TOWNSPEOPLE AT MRS. SPENCER^ 

PRAISE FOR THE CLUB MANY NEAT MEMBERS A TALK ON 

COMPLEXIONS CARE OF THE HANDS. 

IT seemed as if almost all the town turned out on the evening 
of Mrs. Spencer's reception, which had been set for a Fri- 
day, because the next day was a holiday and the girls who were 
to assist might sleep late after their evening's social pleasure. 

The Spencer residence was prettily decorated for the occa- 
sion and brilliantly lighted. The local patrols of Boy 
Scouts turned out unexpectedly in honor of the popular hostess 
and girls' club leader, and lined up on each side of the walk 
across the front lawn from gate to porch, so that the guests in 
approaching Mrs. Spencer's hospitable door passed between the 
ranks of the Scouts. All appreciated this compliment on the 
part of the boys, who had thus volunteered to act as a guard of 
honor. With their neat uniforms, staves, United States flags 
and signal flags, the patrols made a brave show and their lead- 



166 



A CLUB RECEPTION 




A GYMNASTIC CLASS 

Desirable Freedom and Grace of Movement Are Taught by 

Exercises Like These 



ers received many congratulations from the leading citizens of 
the town. 

Most of the prominent and influential residents were 
there and many others who made no pretension to high rank in 
the social scale. In sending out her invitations Mrs. Spencer 
had simply in mind the welfare of the girls of the community 
and the interests of her heloved Girls' Club. This reception 
had been planned as one of her methods of making parents fa- 
miliar with the good work of the Club, and it proved a big 
success. 

The mayor and his wife were among the first arrivals. Mrs. 
Spencer and Mrs. Sanford, her friend, had taken up their posi- 
tions in the front parlor, to receive the guests, with most of the 
girls of the Club standing in a line behind them. Other mem- 
bers of the Club had been detailed to look after the comfort of 



A CLUB RECEPTION 



167 



the arriving guests, the removal of their wraps, and showing 
them to the cloakrooms on an upper floor. 

As Mayor Crockett, father of the Girls' Club president, 
approached the hostess to pay his respects, he warmly shook 
the hand which she smilingly extended to him and said : 

"I am delighted to be here, Mrs. Spencer, and I wish to tell 
you how deeply we all appreciate what you have done and are 
doing for our girls. I hear from my daughter Ruth all about 
your Club proceedings and I know you are making better girls, 
better little mothers and housekeepers, of them all. The town 
is truly grateful to you and we all say, God bless you and pre- 
serve you to us." 

"Oh, thank you, Mr. Crockett," said the Club leader, the 
suspicion of a tear glistening in her bright eyes. "To have our 
work appreciated so heartily and so soon is almost more than I 
expected. Our Club is young yet, but we hope to grow until 
it takes in all the girls who are eligible to join." 







AN OT.D-FASHTOXET) TCXKRCrSE 



168 A CLUB RECEPTION 

"Well, good luck to you," said the mayor, as lie passed on 
and made way for newcomers. 

This was only the first of many congratulations and warm 
expressions of thanks showered upon the hostess during the 
evening. The work and prospects of the Girls' Club formed 
the principal topic of conversation among the guests and each 
young member found herself called upon to answer all sorts of 
inquiries about it. 

When all the guests had arrived and had duly greeted Mrs. 
Spencer, most of them passed out on to the verandah to witness 
a complimentary drill by the Boy Scouts. After this the 
Scouts were served with lemonade and cake by the members of 
the Club, all of whom looked charming in the pretty evening 
dresses they had made under Mrs. Sanford's direction. Then 
the boys cheerily marched away, the guests returned indoors, 
and the delightful evening's entertainment carefully planned 
by the accomplished hostess was begun. 

Soft, low music, furnished by a string orchestra, partly hid- 
den in a corner of the rooms by palms, gave the guests their 
first surprise, for no one had ever heard the like in that town 
before. But Mrs. Spencer possessed the happy faculty of dis- 
covering hidden talent and had unearthed a string quartette of 
young townsmen who had been practicing together for a long 
while but had not until now performed in public or at any so- 
cial function. And they proved to be musicians indeed ! 

Soon everybody was comfortably seated and felt at home. 
The real cordiality of the welcome, the absence of any undue 
straining after so-called fashionable effects, the true, undiluted 
hospitality that made itself felt, and the helpful presence of 
the girls of the Club, all contributed to the success of the even- 
ing. The girls had been taught to see to the comfort of their 
elders and did so to the great satisfaction of Mrs. Spencer and 
the wonder of several of the mothers present, who had begun 
to believe that Young America had lost all reverence for age. 



A CLUB RECEPTION 



169 



''This Girls' Club idea is a grand thing," said one of the 
guests to her nearest neighbor, "if it makes the girls respect 
and consider the feelings of their mothers and all older women. 
I was beginning to think that our daughters consider them- 
selves superior beings. They have been acting that way for 
some time past." 

"It was high time to do something," agreed the other lady. 
"And if the Girls' Clubs will only do for our little daughters 



Wis** 



IX THE GIKLS' "GYM" 

The Basket-ball Team of the Girls' Club— A Healthy, Happy Crowd 

what the Boy Scout movement is doing for our boys, we shall 
have every reason to bless such people as this Mrs. Spencer, 
who are helping to solve one of our greatest problems in child 
retaining. Just look at the happy faces of these girls passing 
the refreshments. Why a few months ago they would have 
thought it a burden and a nuisance to wait upon their elders. 



170 A CLUB RECEPTION 

They wanted to flock by themselves all the time. Now they 
seem proud of the chance to wait on us." 

And so it was. The girls, inspired by a spirit of hospitality 
and feeling that the reception was in part their own affair, 
proved themselves to be splendid little assistant hostesses and 
Mrs. Spencer had every reason to be proud of the conduct of 
her little friends of the Club during the evening. 

The refreshments passed by the girls had been carefully 
prepared. There were sandwiches of lettuce, nuts and club 
cheese, a fruit punch, lemonade, ice-cream and sweet biscuits— 
everything daintily and prettily served, without ostentation or 
undue effort. 

Several of the girls played and sang and Ruth Crockett re- 
cited a clever story of a woman's suffrage meeting, which put 
the ladies in high good humor and made the men look thought- 
ful. Then in a lull of the conversation, which had been ani- 
mated all the evening. Mayor Crockett arose and requested 
Mrs. Spencer to give those present some idea of her plans for 
the Girls' Club and again thanked her, on behalf of the town, 
for what she had already accomplished. 

"I did not ask you here to listen to a speech from me," said 
the charming hostess, slowly rising from her seat, "but Mr. 
Crockett has been so kind and helpful that I will say just this — 
that I hope before long the Girls' Club movement will extend 
all over our broad country and help to make better women, bet- 
ter mothers, better housekeepers, in all classes of the com- 
munity." 

It was late when the last guest recrossed the threshold of 
the Spencer home. The last to leave were the girls of the Club, 
and the brilliant leader was well and truly kissed goodnight 
before they departed. 

"It has been a most delightful evening and a great success. " 
said Ruth Crockett, "and 1 think many more girls will want to 
join the Club after this." 



A CLUB RECEPTION 



171 



"Their mothers will want them to join," said Aliee Haw- 
kins, who had come in from her farm home for the evening and 
was going to stay with Ruth over night. 

And so it proved! The fame of the Girls' Clnh was firmly 
established by the successful reception and the next week saw 
a large increase in the membership. 

Next day was 
the regular Saturday 
meeting of the Club 
and the girls met at 
Mrs. Spencer's in the 
afternoon to help put 
her house in order. 
This did not take long, 
for many hands make 
light work, and when 
the work was done, the 
girls assembled on the 
verandah, the day be- 
ing bright and warm, 
and Mrs. Spencer, ac- 
cording to her custom, 
gave them an instruc- 
tive and interesting 
talk. 

"Today I am going 
to tell you what a very 
beautiful and popular 
American woman, the 
wife of one of our 
great publishers, has to say about the complexion," said Mrs. 
Spencer. "A good complexion is one of the greatest charms in 
woman or girl. It is an indication of health, and a splendid 
passport everywhere." She then read to the Club the follow- 
ing interesting statement by the American beauty: 




A GIRLS' CLUB PICNIC 

Where the Little Hostesses Successfully Entertain 

Their Parents and Friends 



172 A CLUB RECEPTION 

"We have heard so much about the gloriously beautiful 
complexions of English women that I have made it a study to 
find out to just what they attributed that condition of skin and 
health. The answer has formed itself into three letters — TEA. 

"I have lived in England a year at a time, and I go abroad 
almost every summer. Knowing many English people, I nat- 
urally visit their homes, and, being observant, I have learned 
much about their mode of living and habits. 

"I visited a friend who has a beautiful home on the River 
Thames at Bourne End. We always took her launch and went 
up or down the river in the afternoon, stopping at some inn for 
tea, at Henley, Windsor, or Marlow, just wherever we hap- 
pened to be at the tea hour, 4< o'clock. The afternoon tea is as 
much a part of the English daily duty as the breakfast and 
dinner. Every business house and office in the city serves tea 
at 4 o'clock. No matter what important conference may be 
going on, tea is brought in at the stroke of 4. 

"I made it my business to find out how much tea was con- 
sumed both in England and America comparatively. And I 
learned that England consumes over seven pounds of tea per 
capita a year, as against slightly less than one pound per capita 
in the United States. That is, the English-grown India tea, 
which is used almost exclusively over there. 

"The real tea drinkers do not overdo the tea drinking, but 
drink it only three times a day — at breakfast, luncheon, and at 
4< or 5 o'clock. And they make their tea in rather a scientific 
manner. 

"The English tea lady warms her teapot (always made of 
china) and puts in one heaping teaspoonful of tea to each pint 
of water. But she puts her tea in the pot first with one lump 
of sugar and pours over it just enough cold water to cover the 
tea, leaving it to stand and draw while the water is boiling. 
When the water is boiling fiercely she takes the kettle away 
from the fire, holds it a moment to let it settle, then fills up the 



A CLUB RECEPTION L73 

teapol and dors not let it stand one minute, but pours out the 
tea immediately, Thin cream and a little sugar arc added by 
real tea drinkers, although it is delicious without either. In the 
eold countries like Russia and Sweden rum is used instead oi' 
cream, hut I think that it is only used as an excuse for a drink 
of liquor, 

"A cracker or a slice of bread or toast should always he 
eaten with a cup of tea. The theory of that is, should any im- 
purities exist in the tea they would cling to the i'ood in the 
stomach and digest instead of clinging to the lining oi' the 
stomach. 

"I have found in my many years of experience that nothing 
rests and refreshes me after working hard more than a fresh 
made cup oi' India tea with cream and sugar. 

"One inveterate lea drinker oi' my acquaintance is one oi' 
New Fork's ablest lawyers. That wonderful man, a scholar, a 
lawyer, writer, and statesman, always takes his cup oi' tea for 
a bracer and stimulant when in the company of clever nun and 
women, where he desires to he clear headed and keen in intel- 
lect, lie never takes a drink oi' wine unless he happens to he 
in the company oi' i'ooh and imbeciles he then is obliged to 
drink wine to keep on a level with them, or leave their presence. 

"Remember: Tea stimulates hut laughs to scorn the in- 
ebriate." 

When Mrs. Spencer had finished reading this theory oi' the 
beautiful American, she said: "I do not altogether agree with 
this idea. To my mind it is not so much the tea-drinking that 
helps the complexions oi' the English women as the fact that 
they rest and relax for a certain time each day, and so conserve 
their health. 'Then too they take more outdoor exercise than 
American women as a rule, hut this is something we are going 
to change through the Girls' Clubs, We are going to lake 
plenty oi' outdoor exercise after this and are going to make the 



i; i 



/ Cl.l li HECKPTlOy 




famed Kn^hsh complexions 

;;: CW 111 AllUT'a'.l " Aiwl ;lll [\\C 

gilis ;ippl:iiult\l this idea, 

When questions were called 

[01\ as usu.il. after Mrs S|vn 

eer had concluded, Grace Has 

kms inquired Iumn she COllld 

keep her hands in good condi 
tion, "i have to do a good 
m:iii\ chores around the house," 
she said, ".nul l Bud it :n\ full} 
hard to keep im hands present* 
able " 

" w hen one does housew ork," 
replied Mrs, Spencer, "it is 
hard to keep the hands 
condition unless thej 
protected, rhe hands should 

some sbrl When the hands are in wate^ abber gloves should 
be worn \A hen doing light work, such us sweep - m dust 
ing, 01 anj th tig where the hands get so i d, loos< 1 1 § kid 
m cloth gkfi es should i a en n 

w hen ytm i - are sore do aot wash them m water, as 
this will onlj make them worse Cleanse them with oliv< oil 
or cold cream EN m - ag eovei i ands ^ th sweet al- 
mond a I and put on an old pa d loose Rtt - b d gloves to 
prote< I the bed linen Dh s oil - h< al ag and the nv 
jrour hands will be smoot and so 

Dhe Cluh - - i agi ant i pat on si the 

\. meet ng, which was to b< vA \ erj spec i - est 







LITTLK MOTIIKKS 

rKuru\i i issons i\ CARE 0¥ THE BATH rnr SCIENTIFIC 

\i;i;A\i;r\ii'M' or vwv \riisn;\ Kiir> \ov, SLEEPING, 



/4 l.l, the girls of the club were oil tiptoe with expecta 
V tion when the Saturday arrived when they were to have 
their first lesson m the care of a real live baby, Some of them 
li.nl passed the doll stage of girl life, bu1 all fondly remembered 
the love they had lavished on their imitation babies, and now 
looked forward with delight, as "little mothersi" to learning 
how to handle the real lr\ e article, 

At 10 o'clock on the appointed day, the girls assembled 
:it Kuili Crockett s house, where the parlors were large enough 
to hold them all, Ruth's baby sister was soon brought in, in its 
mother's arms, The baby, u fine healtlvy child, cooed with de 
lighl as its eyes roamed on er the smiling faces, and finally rested 
upon its bath tub, covered with a spotless white cloth, 
in the center of the group, Tins baby had been properly taught 
to enjoy it s bath and took to the water like a little duck, 



170 



LITTLE MOTHERS 




using 
gave 



Mrs. Spencer and Mrs. Crockett had arranged for the ex- 
hibition bath and while the mother proceeded to bathe the child 

according to the most ap- 
proved methods Mrs. 
Spencer described the 
proper methods and gave 
the reasons for 
them. She also 
them much valuable 
advice, quoted from great 
physicians and others, as 
follows : 

"Health is the condi- 
tion free from pain, and 
normal condition of the 
body. No one can be 
healthy who does not 
keep himself clean. 
"Hygiene is the science of health, and to have healthy 
people we must begin with the baby. 

"Before we bathe the baby we should have all the things 
ready. Then see if the water is not too warm. We try it by 
putting our elbow in ; if we can stand it, it's all right for baby. 
Then put in towels so the baby's body does not touch the bottom 
of the bath tub. First of all we wash its head and hands, then 
its eyes with a different piece of cotton for each eye, then its 
feet and body. After we have washed it well, then we take the 
baby out and put it on the blankets. 

"We dry it by patting gently, not rubbing roughly. After 
it is dried we dress the baby. We put on the band, shirt, stock- 
ings, etc. The baby should wear light clothes in summer and 
warm clothes in winter. 



THE SUBJECT OF THE BATH 

Baby Crockett 's Smile Indicates Its 

Lack of Fear 



LITTLE MOTHERS 



177 




A MOKXIXG BATH 

The Wise Mother Makes This a Pleasure to Be Looked Forward to and 

Welcomed by the Child 

"Unless there is some contrary indication the baby must 
have its daily bath, but it must be given in such a manner that 
it will be pleasant for both the mother and the child. It is too 
often the case that the bath time is a trial and is looked forward 
to with dread. 

"To prevent the fear of the bath, rough and sudden plung- 
ing of the child into the water should be carefully avoided. 
Fear which has been acquired in any way may sometimes be 
overcome by putting the child into an empty tub and gradually 
adding water, increasing the amount from day to day. 

"The bath should be given with tenderness and soothing 
kindness and without rough handling. By persuasion, care 
and a playful, gentle tone of voice, the water will soon produce 
no fear, but be a source of amusement and joy. 



178 



LITTLE MOTHERS 



"The bath should be given as nearly as possible at the same 
hour every day, but never immediately after eating. An hour, 
at least, should elapse after taking- food. 

"The water for the 
bath should be soft and 
free from sediment. Tur- 
bid water must be filtered. 
As the temperature of 
the bath is very impor- 
tant, a bath thermometer 
is almost indispensable. 
The tube is cased in wood 
to prevent breaking and 
also to prevent the instru- 
ment from sinking. 

"In the absence of a 
thermometer the warmth 
of the water may be 
judged by the bared el- 
bow — a much more deli- 
cate means than the use of 
lessons from toys the hand. The tem- 

Play is the Business of Childhood and Should Be perature of the Water 
Wisely Directed by the Parent ^^ at g^ be 1QQ R 

After a few weeks the temperature may be gradually lowered 
to 95° and after six months it may be from 90° to 95° in win- 
ter and from 80° to 85° in summer. 

"The bath should be given quickly. The duration of the 
immersion should be, at first, one or two minutes, and later 
about five minutes. 

"Some physicians forbid the use of soap in the infant's 
bath, but if it be of undoubted purity, and contain no free 
alkali, there is no objection to its moderate use. The kind 
known as 'best white Castile,' prepared from olive oil, is per- 
haps, as good as any. 




LITTLE MOTHERS 



179 




-"-■ 



"In regard to pow- 
dering the child after 
the bath, the theory is 
that the drying should 
be so perfect that pow- 
der is not needed. In 
practice, however, it is 
difficult to obtain the 
perfect dryness, or to 
appreciate the failure 
until the production 
of chafing and fissures 
of the skin shows that 
there has been a fault 
in this respect. 

"It is therefore a 
useful plan, after 
using the towel as thor- 
oughly as possible, to 
powder the folds of the skin, as around the neck, about the ears, 
in the armpits and groins, and behind the knees. 

"The powder used should be of the simplest kind, such as 
finely powdered starch or lycopodium, or still better, talc. It 
is best to avoid various scented powders on the market, since 
they may contain impurities. 

"Sometimes a little vaseline or cold cream may be ap- 
plied with advantage instead of powder. This is especially 
true if the creases in the skin appear to be somewhat too dry. 

"The face should be washed first and then the head, so that 
any impurities from the rest of the body do not get in the 
eyes. While these parts are being washed the body should be 
kept covered with a light flannel blanket. 



A LITTLE GAEDENEB 

Among Nature 's Products, Herself the Prettiest 

of Them All 




If V 

rq o 



^H CO 

p N 



Ph 



at 

O 



LITTLE MOTHERS 



181 




"Two sponges 
should be used for 
bathing — one for the 
face and head, and the 
other for the body and 
the extremities. A 
soft flannel washrag is 
very useful for the 
baby's bath. It readily 
takes soap and can be 
rubbed over the skin 
without danger of 
injury. 

"Both sponges and 
washrag must be used 
exclusively for the 
baby and never em- 
ployed for any other 
purpose than bathing. 
They must be thoroughly cleaned and dried every time they 
are used. 

"The towels should be of fine, soft material, be dry and 
warm when used, and be perfectly clean before they are ap- 
plied to the body of the child. 

"If these rules are closely followed," concluded Mrs. Spen- 
cer, "the baby's bath will be a source of health and pleasure 
to the child." 

After the baby's bath was over, and the youngest Miss 
Crockett, warm and snug and smiling, had been carried from 
the room to enjoy its regular sound beauty sleep, Mrs. Spen- 
cer proceeded to tell the girls how a child's nursery should be 
kept and also the rules for infants' sleeping. Again quoting 
the best modern authorities on the care of children, she said: 

"The situation, size, general arrangement and furnishing of 



BAREFOOT ON THE BEACH 
Where Boys and Girls of All Ages Learn 
Enjoy Themselves and Gain Health 



to 



182 



LITTLE MOTHERS 




4» 



1$ ™ 






SUNSHINE AND TAN 
Where the Ruddy Glow of Perfect and Wholesome Childhood is Obtained 



a nursery will necessarily vary according to the circumstances 
of the parents; we shall therefore consider only those condi- 
tions which are the most essential. 

"The baby's room should be bright, sunny, dry and with a 
southern exposure. Pure, fresh air is a matter of the highest 
importance if the good health of the child is to be maintained. 
No class of diseases is, perhaps, more directly influenced by 
the conditions of the air as to purity than digestive troubles 
—from simple diarrhoea to the dreaded cholera infantum,' 
says a well-known physician. 

"The room ought to have as much air space as possible and 
there should be at least one thousand cubic feet to each indi- 
vidual occupying it. A constant and abundant supply of pure 
aii- must be secured and care must be taken to avoid draughts. 
In addition the room should be thoroughly aired at least once 



LITTLE MOTHERS 183 



a day by opening wide the windows when the child is absent, 
taking care that the room is well wanned before he enters it 
again. 

"The temperature should range from 68° to 72° F. in the 
day time and from 64° to 68° F. at night. The room should 
be provided with a thermometer hung in some position where 
it records mean temperature: not too close to the source of 
heat nor near windows where it may be unduly chilled. 

"Not only should there be an abundant supply of pure air 
in the nursery but the air should be kept pure by attention to 
the following points: Tobacco-smoking should not be allowed 
in the baby's room. It is well to remember that the burning 
of gas or kerosene rapidly spoils air for breathing. A large 
lamp or gas burner vitiates the air to the same extent as the 
breathing of four or five persons. 

"Soiled napkins, etc., should be promptly removed. Diap- 
ers and clothing must never be dried in the room which the 
child occupies, for independent of the dampness thereby in- 
duced, the odor given off is intensely unwholesome and offen- 
sive. 

"The furniture of the nursery should be plain and simple: 
carved wood and thick upholstery are receptacles for dust. 
The floor, if possible, should be of hard, closely joined wood. 
Movable rugs are far preferable to carpets, as they permit 
more frequent and thorough cleaning both of the carpeting 
and the floor. 

"Painted walls are better than those covered with paper 
hangings. It is desirable that the room should be free from 
plumbing of any sort. 

"The bed or crib must be so situated as to be out of the way 
of draughts. The bed proper should be a hair mattress pro- 
tected by a rubber cloth placed beneath a double sheet. A bed 
must never be made up directly upon the child's leaving it in 
the morning, but the mattress should be well shaken up and the 
bed coverings fully exposed to the air \'ov an hour or more. 



184 LITTLE MOTHERS 

"Be sure that the room has regained its normal temperature 
and that the bed clothing is free from all dampness before the 
child is allowed to occupy it. Should there be any stationary 
washstand in the room, it must be kept perfectly clean and 
never used as a slop sink." 

With regard to sleeping, Mrs. Spencer said: 

"A new-born baby will sleep eighteen or twenty hours out 
of the twenty-four but as he grows older he sleeps less and less. 
When he is a year old he will sleep fifteen or sixteen hours per 
day. Regularity in sleeping hours is as important as regular- 
ity in feeding. 

"A well-known doctor gives the following rules: From 
birth to the end of the sixth or eighth month the infant must 
sleep from 11 P. M. to 5 A. M. and as many hours during the 
day as nature demands and the exigencies of the nursery per- 
mit. This does not mean that the baby is not to be put to bed 
until nearly midnight; on the contrary, he should practically 
settle for the night at six or seven o'clock, but the last feeding 
should be at eleven o'clock. After this he must rest undis- 
turbed until the early morning, when he should be fed and put 
to sleep again. 

"From eight months to two and a half years, a morning 
nap should be taken, say from 12 M. to 1 :30 or 2 P. M., the 
child being undressed and put to bed. Occasionally an after- 
noon nap for half an hour or more seems necessary, though, 
as a rule, sleep at night is more undisturbed and refreshing if 
this be omitted. 

"As soon as thoroughly awake the child must be taken up, 
washed, dressed and fed. This is the only way to cultivate the 
habit of early rising, which promotes both bodily and mental 
welfare, and of all habits is the most conducive to a long and 
healthy life. 

"By early rising it is not meant that the child shall be aroused 
from a sound sleep by a rough voice or hand at a certain fixed 



LITTLE MOTHERS 



185 




MORNING PLAY 

The Instincts of the Healthy Child Lead Him to Start His Games 
Early in the Day 

hour in winter and an earlier one in summer, simply for the 
whim of a fad-ridden and overprompt parent. Quite the re- 
verse! Let the child wake of his own accord, for he will do 
so — whether it be late or early — after he has had enough sleep ; 
and if he must get up at a certain hour, never fix it before 7 
A. M. 

"Make the rousing process as gentle and as gradual as pos- 
sible. Sudden rousing excites the brain, quickens the pulsa- 
tion of the heart, and if repeated, may lead to serious conse- 
quences. 

"Do not get the baby in the habit of being rocked or walked 
to sleep. To walk the floor night after night, or to be obliged 
to sit up with a healthy child and sing it to sleep, is a form of 
martyrdom entirely uncalled for. Provided one is sure that the 
baby is not sick, it should be put to bed and not taken up again 
to induce it to sleep, and the mother should avoid sitting in the 
room unless she wishes to be obliged to sit there every evening. 



186 LITTLE MOTHEliS 

"If the little one never knows any other way than this of 
being put to sleep, there will usually be no difficulty in the mat- 
ter after it has once learned its lesson; but to begin the training 
and not persistently continue it is a fatal yielding of which the 
child will be sure to take advantage. 

"Conversation or a bright light should never be permitted 
in the bedroom after the child has settled to rest. 

"It is best for the baby to lie on one side; then if a little 
milk comes up it will not choke him. After lie has slept Cor 
some time on one side it rests him to be turned over on the other. 

"We should never throw the baby over our shoulder and 
carry it like a sack of flour. Don't lay the baby face down- 
wards across the knee, because it causes headaches. Don't 
rock the baby to sleep, either in the night or in the day; just 
put it to bed and let it fall asleep of its own accord. Don't jog 
the baby up and down; it wants to be treated with all gentle- 
ness." 

At the end of Mrs. Spencer's plain and useful talk, the 
girls were invited to ask questions, but all were quiet and 
thoughtful, trying to remember the many valuable things they 
had heard. And when the club was dismissed, all the "little 
mothers" went home convinced that they had spent one of the 
most interesting and profitable mornings of their lives. 

"Next week," said Mrs. Spencer before they separated, 
"we will have something to say about economical housekeeping 
and our own bodilv health and comfort." 




LITTLE HOUSEKEEPERS 



A MEETING IX THE CLUB LEADER S KITCHEN PROPER PREPA- 
RATION OF ORDINARY DISHES THE MILLIONAIRE WHO 

LONGED FOR A MUTTON STEW HIGH AND LOW COST OF 

LIVING A WEEK'S ECONOMICAL MEALS FOR TWO. 



OX the following Saturday the Girls' Club gathered at the 
home of Mrs. Spencer, their leader, early in the morning. 
Each girl had been instructed to bring with her a large kitchen 
apron and as soon as hats and wraps had been removed, the 
aprons were donned and all crowded into the neat and well- 
arranged kitchen. 

Then for the next three hours all sorts of homely dishes were 
concocted and cooked, according to a plan and program care- 
fully considered by Mrs. Spencer in advance. She permitted 
the girls to do all the actual work, but directed each move and 
shoAved them how everything should be done. 



188 



LITTLE HOUSEKEEPERS 



First of all she 
showed them how cof- 
fee is properly made 
and taught them how 
to preserve the full 
flavor and aroma of 
the coffee hy just the 
right amount of 
boiling. 

"Many a home has 
been broken up 
through poor or ig- 
norant cooking," said 
Mrs. Spencer, "and it 
will pay every girl to 
learn how to cook the 
simple things prop- 
erly. Lots of people 
don't think it worth 
while to bother about 
such things as making 
a good cup of coffee 
— but what a differ- 
ence it makes in our 
feelings after break- 
fast. A cup of wishy- 
washy coffee or one 
that has been over- 
boiled and is there- 
fore robbed of its flavor is very likely to make the members of 
the family irritable and so they begin the day wrong. Experi- 
ence will soon show you just the proper amount of coffee to use 
- — say a heaping tablespoonful for each person. Place it in the 
coffee-pot with cold water and allow the water to come to a boil. 




A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPER 

One of the Girls' Club Members In Her 

Reception Gown 



LITTLE HOUSEKEEPERS 



189 



As soon as it boils remove it from the fire and stand it aside for 
a few minutes — not longer — to settle. Then pour and serve at 
once, with good fresh cream and sugar. Good coffee should 
make a rich golden brown with cream — not a blackish mixture." 
Then the girls made toast and were instructed to make it 
brown, not black, and crisp, not hard. They boiled, fried, 
poached and scrambled eggs, and had no difficulty in making 




A CLASS IX COOKEEY 

Homes Are Made Happier and Health is Conserved by the Study 

of Domestic Science 



away with their products as fast as they were cooked. Xext 
Mrs. Spencer explained the vast difference between broiling 
and frying beefsteak and warned them against the excessive 
use of the frying-pan. She told them how savory and nourish- 
ing stews may be made at small cost, by using the cheaper cuts 
of beef, veal, lamb and mutton, and said that millionaires often 
pine in vain for the homely dishes of their childhood. 



190 



LITTLE HOUSEKEEPERS 



"That is an actual fact, girls," said Mrs. Spencer. "When 
I lived in Chicago I heard of a millionaire, with a mansion on 
the famous Lake Shore Drive, who called at a meat market one 
day and introduced himself. The market man had never seen 
him, although the gentleman had been one of his best customers 
for years. A housekeeper had done all the buying, generally 
by telephone, and the bills had been settled by monthly checks. 
'What I want,' said the millionaire, 'is to get you to send us the 




A NEAT DINING-BOOM 

Careful and Attractive Arrangement of the Table is Taught to 
Girls' Club Members 

makings for an old-fashioned mutton stew. I can't get my 
people to give me that sort of a dinner, but I have grown des- 
perate and mean to have it for once anyhow, even if they all 
resign and walk out!' 

"Many boys and girls often seem to grow tired of the good, 
nutritious dishes on the home table — but after a few years of 
boarding-house or restaurant fare, they would give almost any- 
thing for a stew or a pudding 'like mother used to make.' ' 



LITTLE HOUSEKEEPERS 191 

All the girls seemed to know how to make fudges and they 
had shared in many a "candy-pull," so candy -making was not 
included in the class program for the day, hut Mrs. Spencer 
showed them how to make a chocolate cake and all made notes 
of the recipe and procedure, as well as of the other things they 
had seen and learned. Edna Howland, as secretary of the 
Club, was especially busy making notes for the Club record, 
which was regularly and faithfully kept. 

''Before you go, girls," said Mrs. Spencer as the hour of 
noon approached and the Club prepared to disperse, "I want 
to read to you a valuable letter from an old housekeeper who 
has been much impressed with what people call the present 
hi oh cost of living." 

The Club members then gathered about their leader in her 
cozy living-room, and listened attentively to the following 
letter: 

"To Young Housekeepers: 

"I assume that you are one of a young couple — only two in 
family, and that you wish to live as economically as possible. 
Here is a plan for a week's meals at low cost that is at least 
worth trying, and I think you will find it work out all right. 

"Allow 20 cents daily for meat. You can then, by plan- 
ning, get a vegetable to use with the meat or fish. For Sunday 
a small top rump or undercut of round, say for 30 or 35 cents ; 
then get carrots and tomatoes, when cheap. Make a pot roast 
or beef a la mode. This should make two dinners, Monday and 
Tuesday. 

"Make a change for Monday by having the shoulder chops, 
say 15 cents' worth. Then have the meat left from Sunday 
made into a tempting dish for Wednesd-iy. 

"Try also a small steak (sirloin, flatbone) . costing about 18 
cents a pound. Use parsley and lemon with a small bit of but- 
ter. It makes a very savory dish. 



192 LITTLE HOUSEKEEPERS 

"A skirt steak, which costs about 10 cents a pound, would 
in winter make a nice meat pie. A slice of codfish, nicely 
broiled, would again leave you sufficient money to get a vege- 
table, say a can of tomatoes. 

"For Saturday a kidney stew is very nice. Then plan thus: 

Meat $1.40 

Tea, coffee, or cocoa 35 

Butter 40 

Potatoes 20 

Seven pounds flour 31 

Yeast 04 

Seven pints milk 28 

Grapefruit, oranges, etc 35 

Three pounds of sugar 21 

A cordial 13 

One pound of lard 15 

One pound of suet 10 

Baking powder 10 

Total $4.02 

"If you bake your own bread, save every scrap. You may 
come out even and have variety. The can of baking powder 
will serve two weeks, and maybe you will use only half the 
quantity of sugar. Take the top of the milk for coffee. 

"Change off for Sunday by getting a piece of roast pork 
or boiled pork with cabbage. With the quantity of flour you 
may afford hot biscuit or scones for Sunday tea. As you have 
it, use part of the suet for meat pudding, and with the pennies 
saved here, get a bag of salt, and a can of pepper, or a pound 
of rice. 

"It will take brains and perseverance, but it can be done. 
Why not attend some of the free cooking classes which are at- 
tached to many of our schools, in the evening? 



LITTLE HOUSEKEEPERS 



193 




AXOTHEE CLASS IN COOKEEY 

Young Housekeepers Attired to Eeeeive Their Weekly Lesson in 

Making Home Happy 

"I hope, however, that the husband's wages will increase, 
as it is very trying to live so closely all the time. I have been 
through it all and have felt a wild desire to launch out into ex- 
travagance and let tomorrow take care of itself. Do you know 
that now that I have ample to keep house with I never can bear 
to waste a scrap or buy without calculating? I think the pres- 
ent high prices will be the means of bringing many housewives 
to a realization of their duties. 

"I have kept house nearly fifty years and brought up a 
large family. I think I can truly say that a baker's loaf in 
three months would be as much as we ever bought. Delica- 
tessen stores and bakeries get most of the cash in some cases. 
Make a business of your housekeeping and you will succeed. 

"Old Housekeeper/' 



194 



LITTLE HOUSEKEEPERS 








> 



DOMESTIC SCIENTISTS 
The Study of Housekeeping and Home Economy is an Important Feature of 

Modern Education 



"I will not pass any opinion upon this estimate," said Mrs. 
Spencer. "The frank good- will of the writer is evident 
throughout the letter and I wish all young housewives and lit- 
tle housekeepers would consider the communication candidly 
and carefully." 

After this the Club adjourned, to meet the following week 
at the schoolhouse. It was announced that Dr. Sterling, the 
young physician, who had taught first aid to the local Boy 
Scouts, would be at the school to teach the girls something 
about nursing and the care of a sick-room. 




LITTLE NURSES 

INSTRUCTION IN THE CARE OF THE SICK DR. STERLING^ 

PRACTICAL TALK A MODEL SICKROOM NURSING A NATU- 
RAL CAREER FOR WOMEN. 



WHEN the girls assembled at the schoolhouse on the 
following Saturday morning, they found several Boy 
Scouts awaiting their coming. These boys had been fully in- 
structed in first aid to the injured by their friend Dr. Sterling, 
and had come to help the doctor instruct the girls in this useful 
and interesting art. Each boy was equipped with a regulation 
scout's supply of bandages and before Dr. Sterling arrived 
their neat outfits for first aid were carefully examined and 
duly admired by the girls. 

Dick Crockett took a great deal of pride in illustrating the 
use of an improvised "tourniquet" He showed the girls how, 
by binding a handkerchief about a limb and then twisting a 
stick in it, a scout could stop bleeding from a cut or wound in 
a leg or arm. The boys also illustrated the use of their staves 



196 LITTLE NURSES 

and coats to form a stretcher, and were truly glad to pass on 
the first-aid information they had gained as scouts. 

Mrs. Spencer, the club leader, arrived at the schoolhouse 
while the boys were thus usefully engaged and thanked the 
scouts for their kindly and gentlemanly aid. Then Dr. Ster- 
ling drove up to the school and the club was called to order by 
President Ruth Crockett. Mrs. Spencer introduced the young 
physician and after he had illustrated with his boy scout friends 
some of the best methods of bandaging in cases of emergency, 
he said that most women were born nurses, and gave the girls 
a very interesting and practical talk on nursing and the care 
of the sickroom. 

"I am going to give you the results of actual experience," 
said the doctor. "Nursing is a science and these are some of 
its principles, as they are taught by the leading instructors 
of nurses in this country. 

"Whenever it is possible to choose which room in the house 
shall be occupied by a sick person, the first and most impor- 
tant considerations are sunshine and fresh air, and for this 
reason a corner room at the southwest of the house is usually 
the best. 

"If the patient is easily disturbed by the unavoidable noises 
of the household, it may be well to choose a room at the top 
of the house; but if it is possible to keep the house quiet, it is 
best not to have the patient higher than the second floor on 
account of the difficulty of carrying the numerous articles 
needed in the sick-room up and down many flights of stairs. 

"It is a great mistake to keep the sick-room darkened unless 
the brain or eyes are affected, for sunshine is quite as neces- 
sary as medicine in the cure of almost all diseases. 

"If every one would remember that sunshine and fresh 
air are next in importance to wholesome food in keeping 
persons well and strong, and are absolutely necessarv to help 
sick persons get well, there would be much less serious sickness, 
and very few headaches. 



LITTLE NURSES 197 

"If the patient is likely to be sick for a long time or is 
suffering from any contagious disease, it is best to take out 
of the room all unnecessary furniture, carpets, hangings, etc. 
Not only is it much easier for the nurse to take proper care 
of the room thus arranged, but it is far better for the patient. 
If there is any brain trouble it is especially necessary to take 
all pictures out of the room. 

"Every sick-room should have a bed, sofa, easy chair, two 
tables and such other furniture as may be convenient and 
necessary. A single bed about thirty-two inches high, when 
made up, is best, because the nurse can reach the patient from 
all sides, and need not bend over as much as is necessary in 
working over a low bed. 

"All unnecessary wear and tear should be avoided both 
for the nurse and the members of the family, as they can do 
far more for the patient's comfort when they are in good condi- 
tion than when worn out by unnecessary exertion. 

"It is a great mistake for the nurse to keep her clothes on 
all night; take them off, if only for an hour. If it is neces- 
sary to use a low bed, have a cushion on the floor and kneel 
on it, instead of standing and bending over. Or a low bed 
can be raised by putting blocks of wood under the castors, or 
by putting on an extra spring bed or an extra mattress taken 
from some other bed. 

"In regard to the care of the sick-room, the questions of 
ventilation and heating are all important. The importance of 
breathing plenty of fresh air cannot be too strongly em- 
phasized. When we breathe air into our lungs, we absorb 
from it the oxygen which is the part necessary to keep us alive, 
and in the air which we breathe out from our lungs there is a 
poisonous substance called carbonic acid gas. There are also 
many other impurities given off into the air by our bodies. For 
this reason we find that it is necessary to have a constant 
supply of fresh air coming into our rooms, or we shall be 



198 LITTLE NURSES 

breathing again and again the same impurities which have 
come from our bodies, and without getting the necessary 
amount of oxygen. 

"This constant supply of fresh air is needed both by day 
and by night if we are to be strong and well, and the larger 
the number of people in the room, the greater should be the 
fresh supply. The idea that the night air is harmful and 
should be shut out is entirely false, for although it is more 
damp and cool than while the sun is shining, it is made of the 
same gases, and is quite as pure as the air we breathe in the 
daytime. 

"Unless the air comes directly from over some cesspool 
or decaying substance, a window should always be open in every 
occupied room, both day and night, or there must be some 
other means of ventilation. If every one would sleep with a 
window open one or two inches from the top, there would be 
far fewer headaches, better appetites, and general good health. 

"For those who are sick it is even more important to have 
a constant supply of fresh air than it is for those who are well, 
and indeed, however good the doctor may be, if the nurse 
does not arrange for a constant supply of this, it will be very 
difficult for the patient to recover. 

"Of course, there should never be a current of air blowing 
directly upon the patient, but this can easily be avoided by 
placing a screen so as to direct the draught away from the 
bed. A shawl or blanket pinned over a clothes horse will make 
a very useful screen for this purpose, if no other is at hand. 

"If it is possible to have an unused room opening into the 
sick-room, in which the windows are kept open and where the 
fresh air can be warmed in cold weather, before being admitted 
to the patient's room, and an open fire kept burning in the 
sick-room day and night, we have a very perfect kind of 
ventilation. In this way, fresh air can come in through the 
open door between the rooms and the bad air will be carried 



LITTLE NURSES 199 

up the chimney, as air which is heated is lighter than cold air, 
and always rises. 

"In the summer time, a lighted candle or lamp should be 
placed in the fireplace to heat the air and make a current to 
carry the bad air up the chimney. Stoves which are tightly 
closed do not make the air better, but rather worse, as they 




A MODEL SICKROOM 

Note the Absence of Crowding Furniture and the Neatness 

of All Arrangements 

exhaust the oxygen and make little or no current of air from 
the room up the chimney as is the case with an open fireplace. 
"Cool air being heavier than warm air, it is best to have 
cool air come into the room as high up as possible, and the 
current of warm air should be started upward from near the 
floor so that all the air in the room may, as far as possible, 
be constantly changed. This may be done by raising the 
window about six inches and filling up the space at the bottom 
with a pillow, or better, with a board cut to fit the width of the 
window frame. 



200 LITTLE NURSES 

"If enough air is not admitted between the sashes, a few 
small auger holes may be bored in the board at intervals of 
four or five inches. In this way the chief current of air being 
directed upward between the sashes, there will not be a per- 
ceptible draught through the room. 

"We must remember that cold air is not always fresh air, 
but on the contrary may be quite as impure as the air that is 
warm. 

"The sick-room should always be kept as warm as the 
doctor has ordered it to be, and whether this may be above 
seventy degrees Fahrenheit, or below sixty degrees, there 
should always be a constant supply of fresh air. 

"Lamps as well as people exhaust the oxygen from the 
air, and when an extra lamp or an additional person is to be 
for any length of time in the room, there should be a greater 
supply of fresh air. 

"If the room is heated by an air-tight stove or by a furnace, 
a little dish of water should be kept near or on the register or 
stove, as the air is apt to get too dry when only the very dry 
heat is used. 

"Under no circumstances should a room ever seem close 
and stuffy to a person coming into it, and if it does, steps 
should be at once taken to air it thoroughly, for there is noth- 
ing worse for a patient and no greater reproach to a nurse 
than to have a room continually close. So many persons are 
accustomed to breathing impure air that they do not think it 
a matter of any importance to try to avoid it. 

"At least once a day, the patient should be thoroughly 
covered up, head and all, and the windows opened wide for a 
few moments, unless the outside air is very cold. Care should 
be taken not to remove the extra covers until the room has 
become thoroughly warm again. 

"By whatever means a room is heated, it should be kept at 
the same temperature, usually sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit, 



LITTLE NURSES 



201 



both day and night. Special care should be taken to have the 
sick-room warm between one and six A. M., and an extra 
blanket should then be added, as the vital forces are at their 
lowest between these hours. 

"The sick-room should be kept scrupulously clean. Dust 
harbors disease and germs of every description and should 
not be tolerated. But it is worse than useless to go around 
with a feather duster or dry dust cloth, which simply dis- 




€ h< 






GKADTJATE NUESES 

Many Young Women Take a Course in a Hospital to Fit Them 

For Home Nursing 

lodges the dust and scatters it through the air to be breathed 
into the patient's lungs. The proper way is to take a damp 
cloth and wipe the dust off carefully. 

"The floor may be wiped up in the same way if the carpet 
has been taken up. If not a damp cloth can be tied around 
the broom and the floor swept with that. This will not sweep 
the carpet thoroughly, of course, but it is better to leave the 
dust in the carpet than to raise a cloud of it in the air. 



202 LITTLE NURSES 

"In cases of bronchitis or pneumonia with coughing, it is 
best not to dust or brush the floor at all, to avoid making the 
patient cough. 

"Keep medicine bottles out of sight of the patient and do 
not let dishes in which food has been served, empty glasses, 
spoons, etc., remain in the room. 

"Keep the room always neat and tidy. Fresh flowers in 
the room do not harm at all, in fact are a good thing, provided 
the water is kept fresh and they are removed as soon as they 
begin to wilt. Healthy growing plants are good also, as they 
throw off oxygen and consume the poisonous carbonic acid 
gas and thus help purify the air. No food of any kind should 
be kept in the sick-room. 

"Now I will tell you something about the duties of the 
nurse. 

"It is very much better that one person should assume the 
charge of the patient and that the labor of nursing should be 
systematized, as far as possible, from the beginning. 

"If there are several members of the family ready to share 
in the care of the sick-room, it is much better for both patient 
and nurse, that they should relieve each other in turn and not 
that two or three should be fussing about the room at the same 
time. When a person is very sick, the fewer people there are 
about, the better. 

"Do not ask questions of a sick person. Don't fuss or nag. 

"Whoever assumes the responsibility of nursing should 
write down carefully all the doctor's directions. Nothing 
important should be left to uncertain memory, so that there 
should never be any doubt or discussion afterwards as to just 
what the doctor did say. 

"Never be afraid or ashamed to ask the doctor any ques- 
tions about the care of the patient, in even the simplest matters. 
Doctors are always ready and glad to answer any questions 
relating to your duties and the comfort and welfare of the 



LITTLE NURSES 203 

patient, and if there is anything you do not feel sure about, 
or do not know how to do, ask the doctor. Do not ask him 
questions about his treatment or what he thinks is going to 
happen, which he might not be able or willing to answer. 
That part is not your business and you do not help matters 
by asking, but all instructions concerning the nursing of the 
patient you should understand clearly. 

"Follow the doctor's directions exactly and conscientiously. 
You do not know the dangers or the effect of the medicines, 
or what may be the consequences of any imprudent actions, 
and it is your duty to both patient and doctor to follow the 
latter's instructions exactly and give his treatment a fair 
chance. 

"If the doctor says the patient must not get out of bed, 
do not let her get out of bed on any account ; and if the doctor 
has forbidden solid food, do not let any wish on the patient's 
part induce you to disobey his orders. You may think there 
is no harm in something the doctor has forbidden, or there is 
no use in restraining the patient to the extent he has directed, 
but you know nothing of the complications that may result 
from any imprudence, and you are taking a very grave re- 
sponsibility in following your own ideas in disobedience to the 
doctor's order. 

"Give all medicines very accurately, and never give any 
home remedies or patent medicines while you are giving the 
doctor's prescription, as they may have a very bad effect to- 
gether. It is a good plan to put a piece of paper on the bottle 
with the amount of the dose and the hour at which it is to be 
given written on it, and then, every time you give the medicine 
draw a line through the hour at which you have given it. Then 
there is never any doubt as to whether the medicine was given 
at that time or not, and if a new nurse takes your place she 
can tell at once when the next dose is due. 

"If you forget the medicine at one time do not give a 



204 LITTLE NURSES 

double dose the next time to make up, and if the directions 
say every hour or every two hours, do not give it just when 
you happen to think of it, but be very careful to give it on 
time. 

"Do not make any unnecessary noise in a sick-room and 
anything that may make the patient nervous. Do not sit on 
the edge of the bed. Do not rock; do not read a newspaper, 
as the rustling of the paper is very trying, and if you read a 
book, turn the leaves quietly. 

"Do not stand at the foot of the bed. 

"Do not wear squeaky shoes, nor click knitting needles nor 
make any such continuous noises, which are irritating to en- 
feebled nerves. 

"Never whisper. Speak in a quiet, natural tone. Nothing 
should be said in a sick-room that the patient is not to hear ; go 
outside the door if you wish to consult on anything. 

"Explain any sudden noise or the patient's mind will dwell 
on it for some time afterward. 

"Do not let any unpleasant happenings or bad news be 
told her. Keep her as cheerful and tranquil as possible; 
remember the longer she is sick the feebler the mind and nerves 
become. 

"If you do not like to tell her friends they cannot see the 
invalid, ask the doctor and get his authority to support you. 

"While you are nursing it is very necessary for you to care 
for your own health. Have your meals regularly, but never 
have them in the sick-room; it is too fatiguing to the patient 
and may lessen her appetite. 

"Be careful to keep yourself looking neat. The hands 
should be frequently washed in warm water and soap, and the 
nails cut short and well scrubbed with a nail brush. 

"Never wake a patient at night to give medicine, unless 
the doctor has expressly told you to do so. Be very careful 
not to waken a patient by sudden noises, especially at night. 



LITTLE NURSES 205 

To replenish a coal fire without noise, put a couple of quarts 
of coal into a paper bag, or into a paper and tie it up. Make 
several of these during the day, and lay them on the fire as 
needed." 

With several other useful hints like these, Dr. Sterling 
concluded his talk to the girls and Mrs. Spencer then voiced 
their warm thanks to him for his presence and aid to the club. 

Dick Crockett then sprang a little surprise. On behalf 
of the Eagle Patrol of the Boy Scouts he invited the Girls' 
Club to join them in their next week's "hike" into the country, 
saying that they had chosen as their destination a lake about 
seven miles from town, where they had friends, and that the 
Scouts could promise the girls all kinds of aquatic pleasures 
w r hen they reached the lake. 

The invitation w r as cordially accepted by Mrs. Spencer 
on behalf of the girls and plans were made for an early start 
to the lake on the following Saturday. 





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A JOINT HIKE 



THE GIRLS CLUB AS GUESTS OF THE BOY SCOUTS A PLEASANT 

JAUNT TO A NEARBY LAKE BOATING, SAILING, AND SWIM- 
MING CAUGHT BY THE BOOM CHIVALRY IS NOT DEAD. 



AT 7 o'clock on the next Saturday morning, Tony, the 
Italian trumpeter of the Boy Scouts, sounded an army 
"assembly" call as he pranced toward the rendezvous at the 
schoolhouse. You may be sure that every member of the 
Scouts' patrol was present on time, and there was a full turn- 
out of the Girls' Club too. Mr. Manning, the scoutmaster, 
and Mrs. Spencer, the club leader, with two or three other 
invited grown-ups, arrived promptly, and the adult friends 
had brought along a surrey with a good team of horses, so 
that if any of the girls suffered from fatigue they might be 
taken aboard and proceed in comfort. Some of the party had 
brought along heavy wraps and waterproofs, in case of un- 
favorable weather, and these were piled in the commodious 
carriage before starting, as the morning was bright and warm. 



208 A JOINT HIKE 

Pretty soon the march to the lake was started. In the 
lead went Dick Crockett and Mr. Manning, with several musi- 
cian scouts, who beguiled the way with frequent exhibitions 
of their skill on the bugle. 





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THE JOY OF SAILING 

When a Boy Owns His Own Boat His Happiness is Complete, Especially 

if He Has Built It 



"There is nothing more inspiring on a march than a bugle 
band," said Mrs. Spencer to the girls nearest her, as they ail 
fell in behind the leading scouts, while the rest of the boys and 
the surrey brought up the rear. "Music makes the way seem 
short and we should be specially grateful to our friends the 
Scouts for their pleasant aid." 

The destination of the young marchers was a beautiful 
lake resort, a little farther from town than they were accus- 



A JOINT HIKE 



209 




SCOUTS AS MEKMEX 

When a Boy Has Learned to Swim His Possibilities of Summer Pleasure 

Are Increased Tenfold 

tomed to go on their country hikes. Around this lake were 
several summer cottages and camps, now occupied by families 
with whom some of the boys and girls were well acquainted. 
One of these was the Haskins family, who had a very pleasant 
and roomy cottage on a picturesque point jutting into the 
lake, and it had been arranged that the meriy party of boys 
and girls should make this summer home of Grace Haskins 
their headquarters for the day. This was a very nice and 
suitable arrangement, for while Grace was a popular member 
of the Girls' Club, her young brother Harry had recently 
joined the Eagle Patrol and gave every promise of becoming 
a first-class scout. 

Besides this, the Haskins cottage was a well-equipped 
summer home. Swings and hammocks were hung invitingly 
in the front yard. A long, narrow pier extended into the lake 
in front of the cottage and when the boys and girls arrived 



210 



A JOINT HIKE 



they were delighted to find several sailboats and a good big 
launch moored to the pier, and awaiting their coming. 

"Oh, this is great!" said Dave Crockett when he saw the 
water craft. "Last year we had only our old raft, the Tender- 
foot, that was wrecked, but now it begins to look as if we 
could go sailing in shipshape fashion." 




NO ROOM FOR ALL 

The Captain Is Embarrassed When All the Party Desire to Crowd 
Aboard His Craft 



It was a little after 9 o'clock when the party arrived at 
the lake and were cordially welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Has- 
kins and their friends Grace and Harry. The walk from 
town, aided by the music of the buglers, had been rapidly 
accomplished, and while a few of the smaller girls had been 
given occasional "lifts" in the surrey, most had enjoyed the 
walk. The Scouts of course thought nothing of the distance, 
and, like the little gentlemen they had been trained to be, 



A JOINT HIKE 



211 



they had helped the girls over all the rough and tiresome 

places in the road. 

When Mr. Man- 
ning, Mrs. Spencer, 
and the other adults 
of the party had 
greeted their host and 
hostess, and milk and 
doughnuts had been 
freely passed, the 
scoutmaster assembled 
the entire party in the 
front yard and warned 
them all to be very 
careful in the use of 
the boats that had 
been provided by Mr. 
Haskins and his sum- 
mer neighbors for 
their benefit. The 
larger boys, who had 
learned to swim and 
had had some expe- 
rience in handling" 




OUT FOE A SAIL 

The Young Skipper Knows No Greater Pleasure 

Than Taking His Friends Along 



boats, were placed in 
charge of the fleet. 
Then for several 
hours the boys and girls from town gave themselves over to 
the special delights of the lake. There were several rowboats 
as well as the little sailing craft, and many adventurous voy- 
ages of several hundred yards were undertaken by youngsters 
to whom it was an entirely new experience. 

The launch, with its marvelous little engine, delighted 
everybody. Harry Haskins, as engineer, was in his element, 



212 A JOINT HIKE 

and took a special pride in explaining the engine to his fellow 
scouts, while the girls admired the neat and trim appearance 
of the boat. 

"This is a steel boat," said Harry, as he turned over the 
flywheel and started the engine with his first load. "And it 
won't sink even if it filled with water, because it has airtight 
compartments under the decks at the bow and stern that will 
keep it afloat. The engine is nearly six horse power, and I 
have been running it alone all summer. It carries the boat 
along at a speed of nine miles an hour." 

"But where do you keep your coal, Harry?" asked one of 
the boys. "Where is your fire? I see the steam coming out 
behind the launch, but I don't see how you make it." 

"What you see is the exhaust," said Harry. "That is 
partly spent gasoline vapor and partly water vapor from the 
water used to keep the engine cool. The engine runs with 
gasoline, which comes from a tank up in the bow, and the 
engine is something like an automobile engine, only not quite 
so complicated with valves and things. In larger launches 
they use engines just like those on motor cars." 

All this was very interesting to the boys and they kept 
plying Harry with questions about the launch. He showed 
them how to steer, by turning the bright brass wheel properly, 
and delighted them all by his expert handling of the boat. 

While Harry Haskins was thus entertaining his young 
friends, others of the boys had volunteered to take some of 
the girls out in the rowboats and a few of the bravest spirits 
among the girls, including Edna Howland, secretary of the 
club, begged to be taken for a sail. 

Dave Crockett, as temporary skipper of one of the sail- 
boats, accepted Edna as a passenger. He was sailing near the 
launch when the "jibing" or swinging of the boom, as Dave 
was making a "tack" — or turning the boat in another direc- 
tion — caught Edna unawares and in a moment she was 



A JOINT HIKE 



213 



floundering overboard. A startled cry arose from all who 
witnessed the accident, which is not unusual among those in- 
experienced in sailing, but help was near at hand and it soon 

appeared that the 
days of chivalry are 
not over. Five dif- 
ferent scouts were in 
the water and swim- 
ming strongly to 
Edna's assistance, al- 
most as soon as she 
had fallen in. It 
seemed almost as if 
every boat on the lake 
had contributed a boy 
hero for the occasion. 
Dave's sailboat had 
made considerable 
headway and was 
some distance from 
the struggling girl 
before he dived over 
the side and with 
powerful strokes 

swam to the rescue. 

But Harry in the 
launch had seen the 
accident and speed- 
ing up his engine in a moment's time, was soon alongside of 
Edna and had grasped her firmly before she had time to sink. 
A girl's clothing often keeps her afloat for a time sufficient to 
save her life if help is near at hand. 

It did not take long to pull Edna into the launch and pick 
up the swimming scouts who had started to the rescue. Then 




LEAVING A WAKE 

It is Interesting to Watch the Path One Leaves 
in the Water 



214 A JOINT HIKE 

all haste was made to the landing and Edna was cared for by 
Mrs. Haskins, appearing soon after, none the worse for her 
ducking, in some of Grace's clothes. The boys who had been 
overboard knew how to take care of themselves. They had 
all brought swimming suits along, and while their clothes were 
drying the swimming suits came in handy. 

While the accident had no serious result, it put a damper 
on the boating and sailing for the girls, but plenty of pleasures 
were found on shore. At noon there was a delightful lunch, 
for which the haversacks of the scouts furnished part of the 
materials, including sandwiches of half a dozen kinds, while 
Mrs. Haskins hospitably produced ice cream, cakes and 
lemonade. 

In the afternoon games and athletic sports, including 
swimming races and diving exhibitions by the scouts, filled the 
time most pleasantly. There were more refreshments and at 
five o'clock Mr. Manning announced that he had been in con- 
sultation with Mr. Haskins, and together they had made a 
great discovery. They had found the fathers of two of the 
horse patrol of Boy Scouts, who were farmers in their neigh- 
borhood, and these farmers had offered them the use of two 
large wagons to transport the girls back to town. 

"That will be fine," said Mrs. Spencer, who had rather 
feared the return "hike" for some of her smaller friends of 
the club. And it was indeed a notable ride. The wagons 
were partly filled with new-mown hay and the girls made 
merry in their country chariots, while the Scouts marched 
bravely alongside, and cheered the way with music and song. 

When the town was reached cordial good-nights were said 
all round, and at their next weekly meeting the girls voted that 
the first joint hike with the Boy Scouts was enjoyable enough 
to repeat at the first opportunity. 



CHILD WELFARE 

MOVEMENTS IN 
CITIES AND TOWNS 




BEADY FOE A E1DB 

Horseback Biding is a Very Healthful and Invigorating Exercise 




CHILDHOOD LIFE IN MANY 

LANDS 

By Rev. Peter MacQueen, F. R. G. S. 

IN olden days it is said that shining angels came and took 
men by the hand and led them away from a wicked city 
that was about to be destroyed by fire. We never see white- 
winged angels now: yet men are led away from threatening 
destruction. A hand is put into theirs, which leads them forth 
gently towards a calm, bright land, from which they do not 
wish to turn back, and this hand may be that of a little child. 

The harsher ambitions of maturity have no place in the 
presence of a baby; the sweet dreams of youth, — untarnished 
dreams inspired by love more intense than any known or felt 
before, — come with the coming of Baby: the wonderful little 
bundle of potentialities to whom, it seems, nothing is impos- 
sible. Not a contemplation of the tiny hand but leads the 
mother- fancy far afield, wondering to what uses that hand may 
come, in time, what part it will play in the world's work; not 



CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 219 

an uncovering of the pink feet but suggests anxious question- 
ings and imaginings, in an effort to guess where these feet 
will tread, ere their journey is done: not a glance into the baby 
eyes but the fond heart thinks of the tears unshed and the smiles 
unguessed that are lurking there for the years to come. 

It isn't the czar or the kaiser or the sultan or any king who 
really rules this world ; and it isn't the Stars and Stripes or the 
Union Jack or any other banner that inspires the sternest com- 
promises, the greatest self-sacrifices, the noblest ideals, — it is 
baby, King baby, who for a few short years, at least, has many 
things according to his own sweet will. In every land through- 
out this wide earth there are children, and they are the nucleus 
of the home-life, in whatever state of development that may be. 
Would you like to witness the charm of a tyranny that can keep 
the whole world enslaved? Then let me invite you to make a 
few brief and polite calls with me upon the typical children of 
each nation. The magic carpet of fairyland will carry us easily 
and swiftly, and far more safely than any airship. 

AMERICAN CHILDREN 

No children are so dear to our hearts as our own youngsters 
of America, and none are more easily misunderstood on first 
acquaintance. Self-opinionated, boisterous, rough, even bold 
they appear to foreigners, who see them in hotels or on steam- 
boats, or on the streets. But it is also a foreigner who urges 
that you receive an entirely different impression if you asso- 
ciate with them for a few days. In reality American children 
are the most intelligent children in the world. More thought 
and care are lavished on them, more games maintained for 
them, more schools established for them, more money spent on 
them than anywhere else in the world. There are over 25,- 
000,000 children in the schools of the United States, and nearly 
half a billion dollars or enough to build the Panama Canal is 
paid out every year as the expense of these schools. 



220 CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 

The average American child has less polished manners than 
the French or the English child, but at the same time it has a 
certain vivacity of mind, a quiet determination, and self-control 
that are greatly to be admired. American parents are careful 
to develop the individuality of the child and to impress upon 
him the value of fair play, — a delightful kind of comradeship 
being the aim of home life rather than that awe-inspiring autoc- 
racy which our grandfathers knew and which is still found in 
many lands. 

CHILDREN OF THE SLUMS 

The slums of our cities teem with little ones, but these are 
nearly always children of the immigrants who are pouring by 
thousands into the United States each week. Dirty, ragged 
little urchins congregated from almost every clime into a new 
world that they cannot understand, and that they love only be- 
cause it is kinder to them than their own. In the streets, in 
squalid rooms, lying asleep on chairs or under tables; fed on 
scraps; children with worn, old faces, crippled not by accident 
but by the ignorance of parents. Yet even of these the majority 
receive some degree of affection, and for many of them a 
mother has starved or a father sacrificed his own ambition. And 
their young instincts burst forth as the buds of spring open at 
the first touch of the sun, unmindful of the possible blight of 
frost. Let a street-organ or a violin player strike up in one of 
the sordid streets and in a moment the poor little feet, bruised 
and weary and cold, are dancing on the hard, un joyous pave- 
ment as blithely as the white-socked ones of Fifth Avenue at a 
birthday party. 

In our great glad civilization much help has been given to 
the children of the slums. Noble men and women have brought 
education and health into their darkened lives. Playgrounds, 
public nurseries, trips to the country, floating hospitals and the 
unstinted motherly regard poured out on them by such workers 



CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 221 

as Maud Ballington Booth and Jacob Hi is and a host of other 
unselfish, devoted Christians, are slowly erasing the dark stain 
wrought by the wretchedness of our submerged classes on the 
fair name of our nation. Of course we must not forget that 
the misery of poverty comes to our land largely from the immi- 
grants who have been victims of hard and sinister conditions 
across the sea. 

CANADIAN CHILDREN 

I have often heard it said that the children of the United 
States and Canada are very much alike. All children have 
points in common, yet typical American and typical Canadian 
children differ greatly in many ways ; surprisingly so when they 
are next-door neighbors, speak one language, and have the same 
literature, and are brought up in the same faith. The Canadians 
are remarkably straight, strong, fleet of limb ; they skate, sleigh, 
toboggan, fish, row, — in fact are wonderfully dexterous on 
snow and ice and water. They play chiefly the English games, 
at which they are expert. Snow-shoeing is the favorite sport 
of the well-to-do, for throughout the Dominion of Canada this 
accomplishment is a very useful if not necessary one. A keen 
delight in all outdoor sports is bequeathed them from their 
hardy ancestry, who not so very long ago depended on their 
prowess with the gun and rod, their skill on the snowshoe and 
speed in the canoe for daily sustenance. Education is not so 
universally thorough as in the United States, yet the true cul- 
ture of heart as well as of brain is taught, and their good breed- 
ing is more noticeable than in most colonies. A splendid race 
of English subjects, full of energy and enterprise and loyalty 
to the mother country is growing up from this soil. But withal 
they are exceedingly devoted to their own North America, and 
Dominion Day is a great day for all the children, as the Fourth 
of July is to the nieces and nephews of Uncle Sam, It com- 
memorates the formation of the various colonies of the British 



222 CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 

in North America into one united Dominion of Canada on July 
1, 1867. 

ESKIMO CHILDREN 

The next country we come to as we travel northward is 
Greenland and the wild and icy shores of Hudson Bay and the 
Arctic Ocean and the mountains of Alaska. It is on these 
frozen, snowy wastes, especially in Greenland, that we find the 
little Eskimo children, who are born in the snow and cradled 
within huts of ice. The shrieking of the bleak North Wind is 
the only lullaby they hear ; they are clad in seal and white bear 
skins, and taught while still very tiny to eat whale blubber and 
bear meat and salt fish. The only fruit they know is really a 
vegetable — rhubarb, which they like to eat uncooked. The 
Eskimo mother generally carries her baby in her hood, — in 
some parts of Labrador she has a long pointed sack made for 
the purpose on the front of her high boots. The older young- 
sters are dressed very much like the grown folk. The Eskimo 
children are born into the most peaceful and orderty community 
on earth. They have no magistrates, no laws, yet they maintain 
among themselves an ideal good conduct: a quarrel among 
Eskimos is almost unknown and never goes further than a 
difference of opinion, which the disputants settle by separating; 
so of course the children do not quarrel. They sing a great deal 
when indoors between the intervals of eating and sleeping; 
when eating they gorge till thejr can hold no more. Almost 
from babyhood they are forced to join in the daily occupation 
of their elders, — to hunt birds, build canoes and snow-huts, to 
fish, to gather dry moss, and to wage war with the elements, 
with great monsters of the deep, and the richly furred animals, 
which give them oil for their fuel, food and raiment — such are 
the things that fill up life in that vast white country under the 
weird light of the aurora. Within recent years missionaries 
have established a few trading posts there, with rough hospitals 



CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 



223 



and churches, where they brave the danger and cold to teach the 
simple-hearted Eskimos how to read and sew and sing and care 
for sick folk in the Christian way. 

PICKANINNIES 

It will be pleasant 
now to turn southward 
into a land of sunshine 
and warmth, where the 
queer little black pick- 
aninnies dwell. The 
cheerfulest, the very 
cheerfulest thing on earth 
is a well-fed but not over- 
clad pickaninny. The 
darky children are the 
sunshine of the South. 
The only baths they en- 
joy are sun and mud 
baths and into one of 
these they will plunge 
with ecstacy. Their 
throats and their lungs 
are inexhaustible cellars 
of vocal wine as inspiring 
and as sparkling as 
Clicquot, as tender, as mellow, as soothing, as rich as Oporto, 
and always on the tap. Their happy-go-lucky philosophy is 
altogether adapted to the mental, moral, and social uses of 
their careless lives. This seems to be their code: Take any- 
thing you like, if you can get it and dare. Never be in a 
hurry, except to avoid work or a whipping. Eat as often and 
as much as possible. Never stop eating if you can help it. 
Stay in the sunshine. Have a good time. 

Except among the very poorest of the Southern darkies, the 




BOEN TIKED' 




PM 



a 

S S 



02 « 



<1 T3 
o 
o 
O 



CO © 






CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 225 

pickaninnies have nothing to do, when school is not keeping, and 
they do it to perfection. Even the small ones can sing, and many 
play the banjo; they make whistles out of green bark, and ham- 
mocks out of the ropy Florida moss which hangs from the 
trees in the swamps. Much is said and written about the race 
problem in the United States, about the need of education 
among the colored folk who were left stranded and helpless 
after our Civil War, but meanwhile the little dusky elves in 
their gay calico garments and bare feet go on filling our South- 
land with laughter and with song, with frolic and the joy of 
living. 

THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN CHILDREN 

There are still other quaint little boys and girls living in 
the United States, whom we must not forget to visit, — the only 
really real Americans we have; the Indian papooses. The 
aborigines of America, these so-called Indians, are probably as 
old as any race on the globe. 

The Indian girls are taught to put up and take down the 
wigwams; to make and embroider moccasins, to cook and to 
clean, to carry burdens and to walk incredible distances, to be 
brave and self-controlled. The Indian boy is taught to hunt, 
to fight, to manufacture the things necessary in Indian life. 
The quintessence of Indian life and thought and character is to 
endure and suffer with indifference. The boys are taught to 
lasso and tame the wild horse, to build the kind of dwelling 
peculiar to the tribe, to read and write their wonderful sign 
language which sometimes resembles the Egyptian hieroglyphs. 
He is never an idle boy, and he learns to do all that is necessary 
for Indian welfare. 

The Indian boys and girls are now being sent to college and 
are sometimes very brilliant. 



226 CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 

THE CUBAN CHILDREN 

I can recall no other country in which there is so sharp a 
contrast between the children of the rich and of the poor as in 
Cuba. The first lead a life of extreme indolence and early 
dissipation; the second of extreme industry and dearth of 
amusement. General^ speaking the two have only one thing 
in common, lack of education. At the time of the American 
war not one child in ten on the Island could read or write. On 
the whole I think the children of the poor are better educated 
than those of the rich. They learn the practical lessons in the 
university of life. 

Among the children who have been constantly in contact 
with negro slaves, a spirit of arrogance and often of brutality 
is engendered. Every Cuban woman young or old has one 
great virtue, she has very little to say and talks hardly ever. 
The schools in Cuba were former church schools ; the fees were 
high, the boys were taught little, and the girls less. But educa- 
tion has been greatly furthered by the American occupation. 

A Cuban baby is baptized when it is two weeks and one day 
old, at the very latest. Its godfather is a person most impor- 
tant, and his choice involves much serious consideration, not 
as to the nobility of his character but as to the length of his 
purse; for etiquette compels him to spend much money. He 
must provide the christening party with carriages, unless the 
child's parents own them. It is quite usual even when the 
people live next door to drive to a baptism, as it is a sacred func- 
tion. The godfather must celebrate the birth by giving en- 
tirely at his own expense as lavish an entertainment as possible. 
He must also present pieces of silver or of gold to all the rela- 
tives, friends and acquaintances. 

One beautiful feature of Cuba is the phosphorescent fly. It 
is often used as a lamp by the children to light them through 
the dark. 



CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 



227 



CHILD LIFE IN PORTO RICO 

The army census of 1899 showed that in a total population 
of about a million persons in Porto Rico we had 300,000 chil- 
dren under ten years of age. The birthrate is much higher there 
than in the United States, and yet the population increases 
more slowly because the infant death rate is very high. 




AN ENGLISH CHILD AND HER PETS 



The children of this island possession are of all colors, from 
brown and kinky-haired babies to those of fair skin and sunny 
locks. The clothing of these sun-loving people is very scant. 
Young children very seldom wear anything, while the older 
ones are content with one garment. When American schools 
were first established, the teaching capacity was very small. A 
law was made to permit only children who were clothed to at- 
tend school. One man who had no money to buy his boy 



228 CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 

clothes thought this very unreasonable. It was better, he said, 
to have something in the boy's head than on his back. So he 
sent his boy to school one day with a pair of knee pants made 
of a Pillsbury flour bag and marked: "X X X." 

Although the children of Porto Rico seem happy, they are 
sad and not very strong because they do not have nutritious 
food. Many get nothing to eat but fruit and certain sweet- 
meats. In the city of San Juan, a very thickly populated town, 



INTEEESTED AND HAPPY 

Novel Forms of Eecreation Appeal to Every Healthy Child and Wise 

Teachers Provide Them 

there are no front yards and children swarm all over the nar- 
row sidewalks and are often in danger from the carriages. 

The Porto Ricans are great admirers of children, however, 
and show intense love for them, although they do not know how 
to take proper care of them. The great need of these people 
is public schools, wholesome amusement for childhood, and a 
child literature in the Spanish language. 



CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 229 

Childhood conditions in the Philippines and in Panama are 
similar to those in Porto Rico. The Spanish government ap- 
parently cared nothing for the children in their colonial pos- 
sessions. The American government has put 800,000 children 
into the public schools of the Philippines; planted the very 
finest educational institutions in the Panama Canal zone, and in 
Porto Rico is giving to the people old and young absolutely the 
best colonial administration ever yet presented in the world's 
history. 

SOUTH AMERICAN CHILDREN 

All over South America new and great countries are grow- 
ing. The bringing up of children is necessarily not so complete 
as in North America. But the boys and girls living far to the 
south of us have much that is happy in their lives. South 
American children are children of the open air, and though 
they have not much of book education as yet, they know a whole 
lot about the practical things of life. In Argentina every girl 
can ride and every boy can fling a lasso with great skill. In 
Brazil, in Chile, in Peru, in Ecuador, in Venezuela, in Colum- 
bia, the vigor of youth is awakening. The girls are extremely 
domestic all over that vast continent. The young men grow up 
virile, vigorous, and brave, the dark spell of Spanish fanaticism 
is lifted, and the boys and girls of South America may well be 
called the children of the future. 

CHILDREN OF ENGLAND 

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean we are, of course, intensely in- 
terested in the children of our motherland, old England. Class 
distinction is much more strongly marked than with us. The 
slum children of London, the "mud-larks" and scavengers of 
the Thames, have occupied a hundred brilliant books and some 
immortal poems. Mischievous sprites with keen black eyes, 
evading the police, living in tumble-down sheds, speaking slang 



230 CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 

unintelligible to the average Englishman — they have become a 
problem of imperial Britain. The children of the respectable 
class are well brought up on simple food, and a plain, common- 
sense education. Their games are those of the American boys 
and girls, with some especially English, like cricket and bowl- 
ing on the green. They are fine swimmers, nearly every one of 
them, and later make fine sailors; this gives to England the 
mastery of the sea. An average English boy has no superior in 
honesty and the respect he shows his parents. The English 
girls have better complexions and more glorious hair than most 
American girls, but they are more timid and have far less initia- 
tive than the American girls. No girls are so well dressed as 
the American girls, but the English girls are far superior in 
their love of outdoor life. I have seen quite young girls in 
England walk twenty miles a day, which gives them the love- 
liest complexions in the world. The children of green Ireland 
are more picturesque and witty than those of England ; they are 
shy but friendly. The children of the upper class in England 
are better educated than those of the middle classes, but as men 
and women they are not nearly so strong and gifted. 

THE CHILDREN OF BONNIE SCOTLAND 

In Scotland we come upon a race of people peculiarly vigor- 
ous, who have made their impression on every quarter of the 
globe. The childhood life in Scotland is strong and manly and 
even austere. Scottish women are peculiarly efficient mothers. 
They teach their children first of all a rugged independence. 
Independence, intelligence, religion, — these are the three words 
that are drummed into the Scottish child from the day it learns 
to speak. There are plenty of games and outdoor exercises for 
the children everywhere in Scotland; the Scottish schools are 
the models for most of Europe, and, indeed, are in no way in- 
ferior to the best in Germany. If knowledge is power, the 
Scottish must be a powerful race. The one last bitter taunt you 



CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 231 

can hurl at a Scottish boy is to call him ignorant. There is no 
position of power and influence in all the British Empire and 
in all the English-speaking world to which the poorest Scottish 
boy has not aspired and attained. A factory boy, David Liv- 
ingston, became the greatest explorer of his age ; a stonemason, 
Thomas Carlyle, led English literature for half a century ; 
James Watt, a Scottish mechanic, invented the use of steam and 
lifted history off its hinges ; Robert Burns, a Scottish plowboy, 
wrote the sweetest lyrics of the human race. It is the training 
of childhood that makes a nation great. The childhood shows 
the man as morning shows the day. 

NORWEGIAN CHILDREN 

There is no other country in Europe except Sweden in 
which the standard of primary education is so high as in Nor- 
way. Education is compulsory between the ages of eight and 
fifteen. The young Norseman is taught to skate and row and 
fish ; the Norse girls are taught to cook, to knit, to milk, and to 
churn. All the boys are prepared for service either naval or 
military; are taught to build boats and hunt, to build houses 
and to sail. They have many games, but they live very closely 
with their elders, share their food, their thoughts, and habits. 

FRENCH CHILDREN 

In many ways French home life is ideal. In no other na- 
tion are parents so solicitous daily, hourly, of their children's 
welfare. Nowhere else are children more respectful, more 
obedient to their parents ; nowhere else is the intimacy between 
children and parents more complete, more cordial, or more 
wisely regulated. Perhaps the children of France do smack 
somewhat of affectation and of over-carefulness. French chil- 
dren are very fond of animals, particularly of dogs. No French 
child is ever allowed at the family table until he can behave with 
absolute propriety. The boys and girls of France see little of 
each other after they are eight years old. They are not so shy 



232 



CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 



as the English children ; but much more shy than the American. 
Cela va sans dire. 

BRETON CHILDREN 

In Brittany a boy is seldom taught a trade. Primitive farm- 
ing both boys and girls learn. All can knit and spin, and many 
are skillful cooks and packers of the silver sardine, which their 
fathers catch at sea. The Breton child believes in witchcraft, 
charms and antidotes and spells. The little girls are great 
lovers of lace, and many a dainty peasant maid who lives on 
bean soup has at least one bit of real lace treasured against her 
wedding-day. No Breton boy will stone or harm a robin red- 
breast; for he believes that all the robins are descended from 
the one which, with its beak, plucked from the cruel crown of 
Christ a thorn. 

CHILDREN OF ITALY 

Italy is a country 
famed for kindness to 
its little ones. Yet the 
bambinos are gentle in 
their manners, never 
impertinent. No chil- 
dren learn more quick- 
ly than the Italians do, 
and few learn more 
thoroughly and re- 
member better. But 
the laws on education 
are very lax, and al- 
though a child is ex- 
pected to go to school 
from its sixth to its 
twelfth year, yet this 
is only a suggestion. 
The ox-eyed young- 




A CHILD OF MILAN 



CHILDHOOD IN M ANY LANDS 



233 




IN A GEEMAN SCHOOL 



sters often leave school when they can barely read and write. 
There is a superstition in Italy that before the end of the 
world seven years will elapse in which no children will be 
born. So that when a child is born, it is a double joy. 

CHILDREN OF SICILY 

The children of Sicily play even now with the great god 
Pan down among the reeds of the river. They pull their sus- 
tenance from the vines of grapes and trees of olives. They are 
uniquely interesting because they are the children of the one 
living classic European race. The boys who lave their limbs in 
the fringed streams of Sicily today are in the flesh and spirit as 
typically classic as were the sandal-shod boys who walked to 
the academy where Socrates and Aristotle taught. They are 
thus the link between Europe's past and present. They can all 



234 CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 

talk fluently and with plausibility, — a heritage from classic 
days. 

GERMAN AND SLAV CHILDREN 

Just as the Portuguese and Spanish customs of childhood 
resemble those of Italy and France, so the Germanic races and 
the Slavic have many points in common. I saw the children in 
the public parks in St. Petersburg, strong, fresh-faced young- 
sters, like those of Berlin and The Hague, running after a big 
rubber ball, playing their game in the very same way that their 
Teutonic comrades played it. Of course the Teutonic children 
have a much better chance in life than the Russian ones. The 
thrift and education of the Teutonic peoples have made them 
one of the most powerful of all races. The wonderful acumen 
of the German mind has made Germany the most powerful 
military nation in the world ; and as for science, we are all chil- 
dren sitting at the feet of the great German teachers. In dar- 
ing, hardihood and love of liberty the Dutch have never been 
surpassed. The Swiss are much the same. The Russians have 
a great future ; the Germans are men of the present. 

ARABIAN CHILDREN 

Arabia was the link between the East and the West until 
the Suez Canal was opened. The Arabs are said to be music- 
mad and poetry-crazy. Especially mellifluous are the songs the 
Arab girls sing. The two forms of animal life with which the 
Arab boy is most familiar are the ostrich and the camel. The 
form of vegetable life is the date. Dates are to the Arab what 
bananas are to the African, what bread and meat are to Europe, 
what rice is to India and China. Hospitality is the first law of 
Arab life, and all the children are taught to show it. Every 
Arab boy can ride well, drive a good bargain, judge character, 
and flatter. He is never rude to his mother, though he may 
wrangle with his brother and even defy his father. 



CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 



235 



THE LITTLE HINDU BABY THAT NEVER CRIES 



The birth of a son is the great desire of every Hindu wife. 
Flies may torment him, mosquitos bite him, heat burn him, and 
yet he rarely opens his mouth for any but pleasant sounds. 
His mother is poor and has to work, he clings to her side, gets 
tired, hungry and sleepy, but never cries or frets. When a boy 
is about five years old his school life begins, and a lucky day is 
chosen and ceremonies observed. When he becomes a big boy 

he is good-tempered and 
patient, rarely quarrels 
and never fights; when a 
man, he loses some of the 
noble qualities, but re- 
mains patient, good-na- 
tured and polite — he is 
called the mild Hindu. 
But he is not perfect — he 
is not truthful, has not 
some of the good traits of 
the American boys, does 
not think it at all unworthy 
to deceive; what will suit 
his purpose best is more to 
him than what is right; it 
was so with his father and 
will be with the next gen- 
eration. He does not wear 
clothes till several years old. When very young he rides in 
a little basket on his mother's head while she is at work. When 
there are two youngsters to carry, the good-natured Indian 
papa will sometimes sling a basket on each end of a bamboo 
pole, put a baby into each, raise the pole to his shoulders and 
walk off. 




CHILDREN OF MODERN ATHENS 



236 CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 

Girls in Hindustan are not taught to read, because if a girl 
reads to her husband, they believe she will thus be likely to drive 
him to an early death, and widowhood is a Hindu woman's pur- 
gatory. The lives of little Hindu girls are both picturesque 
and interesting. Child marriages are still a burning question. 

JEWISH CHILDREN 

The Jewish children in America are carrying off the honors 
in our schools. Few people remember that they are perhaps the 
most brilliant race of ancient Asia. The Jewish race every- 
where place the very highest importance on child life and on 
home life. 

CHILDHOOD IN THE FLOWERY KINGDOM 

Christianity and civilization recently brought into Japan 
have not yet affected the ways of dealing with children. The 
babies are carried strapped to the backs of their elder sisters or 
brothers, who play on unmindful of the weight. This accounts 
for the unshapely legs and often bent figures of the Japanese. 
They are not weaned until from two to five years of age. All 
the little ones are out of doors from morning till night, going 
into the house only to eat and to sleep, and this constant ex- 
posure to the hot sunshine causes a very high death rate in child- 
hood. Corporal punishment is forbidden by public opinion. 
Parents do not consider it undignified to be the playmates of 
their children. 

Japanese families are usually small, and the arrival of each 
child is made a joyous event, the occasion of many presents and 
much feasting. On the day the child is a week old, it receives 
its name, with various formal ceremonies. When thirty days 
old it is taken to the temple by the mother, who offers a piece 
of money there and places her baby under the care of some 
patron god. At four months, baby Jap is clothed just like an 
adult. At fifteen the boy is a man, changes his name and the 



CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 237 

fashions of his hair, and is old enough to marry. Ere this he 
will have been through the public school, where now he sits at a 
desk like any American schoolboy, and will be well drilled in 
military tactics. The girl can read and write and do a few 
sums, play the guitar or the harp and arrange flowers in vases ; 
so that she also is considered well educated. 

Sleep on, fair children of Japan, for your long rough jour- 
ney is at hand. A little while and ye shall sleep no more, and 
your gentle dreams shall be of battles. As yet your sleep and 
your waking are one; the exquisite garden of your home life 
still surrounds you, and everywhere is dewy fragrance and 
budding hope. 

KAFFIR CHILDREN 

From flowery Japan to Africa is a far journey, but we do 
not want to miss meeting the little black tots in their own native 
land. Over the mysterious country of China we go, where a 
hundred million children clad in gay loose robes that remind us 
of their tiny Japanese neighbors await the better things that 
the dawn of China's "New Day" already promises. In Africa 
there are many tribes of black people, but probably the Kaffirs 
will interest us most. These have an elaborate etiquette and a 
carefully thought out social system. A Kaffir hut is a mere bee- 
hive of poles and sticks thatched with grass, built in a day. 
The Kaffirs do not discipline their children ; a child obeys when 
it likes; if not, it shakes its head and laughs. The boys enjoy 
fighting ; the girls even have fights among themselves, and they 
fight en to the bitter end. But the children are never revenge- 
ful, — once the fight is finished it is forgotten, or remembered 
only as a lively bit of pleasantry. They are very inquisitive, 
often witty, and always imaginative. The stars, they say, are 
the children of the sky, borne by her to her husband the sun. 
When a Kaffir mother leaves her child for any length of time, 
she is careful to perform some charm to insure its safety until 



238 CHILDHOOD IN MANY LANDS 

her return. She is usually named after her eldest child, with 
the prefix "ma;" thus, the natives called Mrs. Livingston "Ma- 
Robert," because her child was named "Robert." 

Men and boys among the Kaffirs tend the cattle and sheep, 
never leaving this work to the women except when they must 
be away at war or on a hunt; but the women do all the house- 
work and the agricultural tasks. A Kaffir boy is very thrifty, 
and begins early to hoard as many bits of metal and other 
treasures as he can, hiding them in the jungle. Just as soon 
as he has acquired enough money, he buys a cow, and when he 
has six or a dozen cows he buys a wife. 

CHILD LABOR 

From the ice-fields of the North, where we found the furry 
little bundles of Eskimo babies, to the burning sands of the 
Sahara and of southwestern Asia, where we can see the caravan 
camels kneel at eventide and sturdy young nomads dance about 
under the cooling sky while their Arabian elders prepare supper 
quite in the fashion of a dozen centuries ago; from Europe 
around the world and back to Europe we may travel, pausing 
at all the islands of the sea and exploring every city, finding 
children everywhere, quaint, lovable, interesting : — but of them 
all those that will arouse our sympathies most are the little 
toilers in shop and mine with their pinched and hopeless faces. 
It isn't the heathen who need uplift ; it is the baby slaves to a 
ruthless system of commercialism. And thank Heaven! this 
uplift is coming. New laws, new ideals are slowly yet certainly 
freeing childhood of its cruel burden. In our growing civiliza- 
tion we no longer put our shoulder to the wheel, but press our 
finger on the button. The whirr of the sewing machine has 
stifled that pitiful "Song of the Shirt," and science has ex- 
tinguished fires of fanaticism, and "the Cry of the Children" 
is no longer world wide. 




PLAY— THE ELIXIR 
OF LIFE 

NATURE says to boys and girls, "Play." 
Without play children cannot grow up properly and they 
Mall be handicapped all their lives. Play is a royal road to 
health, happiness, and strength of character, and to education. 

But in cities, towns, and sometimes in the country, children 
are not encouraged to play. Often they are prevented from 
playing in the right way and go from bad to worse. 

Play is so essential in the life of children that the wisest 
business men and the most progressive and thoughtful educa- 
tors have united to provide play places, games, and leaders or 
play directors. 

It has been discovered that in no other way can children be 
properly prepared for citizenship in a free country, for co- 
operation, for a useful life and a peaceful old age, — except 
through organized or directed play. It is no longer considered 
enough to permit children to play as they please. They are 
coached by men and women who have made a study of play and 




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PLAY— THE ELIXIR OF LIFE 241 

how it may be used for the physical, mental, and moral upbuild- 
ing of youth. 

Children need play as they need food, air, exercise, and 
sleep. Organized play trains children in teamwork, teaches 
them to deal with others and enables them to adjust themselves 
to others in later life. 

Little children, too young to leave home for school or other 
community playgrounds, must have their play directed also — 
and this means trained mothers. Kindergartens and many 
books aid in teaching mothers how to make the childhood of 
their offspring happy and educational. 

After the child has reached the age at which he may be ex- 
pected to leave the home and the lot about the home, if there 
happens to be one, the duty of supplying a place to play and 
proper direction has been assumed in many places by the munic- 
ipal government. 

In fact, this need can be supplied adequately and with good 
results in no other way. The element of immediate personal 
profit on the necessary investment must be eliminated and play- 
grounds and play teachers must be provided, in the same way 
that public schools and teachers are provided. In some cases 
the playground, with its directed play, is simply an extension of 
the public school. 

"We had no such thing when I was a boy," is a remark often 
made when organized play and the necessity of public taxation 
to provide this means of education is under discussion. It may 
be remarked also that fifty years ago we did not have the tele- 
phone, nor electric cars, and the people had not changed from 
a rural to an urban population. New conditions have arisen 
which make new methods necessary. 

Homely virtues — patience, endurance, steadiness of pur- 
pose and stolid courage — were developed in an earlier day by 
the life of the times, men coming into contact with nature in 
the fields and forest. All this is past for the majority. 



242 PLAY— THE ELIXIR OF LIFE 

This is the machine age. City and town men do not work with 
their sons. Homes are small and opportunity for home ac- 
tivities are limited. Children are thrown into the street, and 
unprepared, soon seek employment where all work is forced 
ahead rapidly by the machine. All our lives are speeded up. 
The old endurance is not developed, but high nervous tension 
is required. 

To counteract this general tendency, felt even on the farm 
of today, organized play has been introduced in America. But 
while rapid strides have been made in this country, we still are 
far behind similar enterprises in European countries, notably 
Germany, 

In Chicago, where high-water mark has been reached in 
playground movements, interesting and profitable results have 
been attained. Millions of dollars have been spent and the 
people are planning to spend $100,000,000 more, experiments 
already made proving that the ideals are correct. 

This promotion of play by the use of funds raised by taxa- 
tion came only when the economic interests of the city demanded 
it. Thousands of children were found to be growing up in the 
streets, coming into conflict with the police, and their hope of 
useful manhood and womanhood being destroyed. Employers 
found boys and girls unreliable when they came to work. The 
neglect of their early youth was discovered to be the cause and 
steps were taken to remedy this defect in the city's equipment. 

Chicago's problem is colossal. Its millions of people, many 
of them speaking only foreign languages, make the demands so 
great and the cost so large that only the most progressive and 
far-seeing men could have attempted to solve it. But the solu- 
tion is well under way and other cities are making rapid strides. 
There is no town or city, or rural neighborhood, in America 
which cannot profitably take up the organized play idea. 

Unorganized play often degenerates and the ethical ad- 
vantages are lost. When boys and young men are directed, 




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244 PLAY— THE ELIXIR OF LIFE 

however, in their play, on half -holidays when they are not at 
school or at work, surprising and even amazing results have been 
attained. Tough gang leaders (sometimes with court and 
prison records) have been transformed into forces for good, as 
baseball captains or other leaders, — their superior ability and 
energy working into desirable channels. 

Young men employed in factories who play baseball on 
Chicago's municipal diamonds at first practise all sorts of ques- 
tionable tricks, indulge in profanity, and gamble on the result. 
This is not permitted by the rules. Leaders are on hand to 
show them a better way, and a policeman, often a sort of step- 
father to the youth of the neighborhood, is there to enforce 
the rules. Play on vacant lots without supervision has a ten- 
dency in city or country to degenerate into fights and quarrels, 
into foul language and gambling. On municipal diamonds 
only the good remains and the entire community is benefited. 

During one } 7 ear 6,000,000 uses were made of the Chicago 
playgrounds under the direction of the South Park Commis- 
sion, and these are about a third of the total in the city. This 
of course does not include those who simply visited the parks, 
playgrounds, field-houses, gardens, and conservatories, or 
rested on the banks of the lagoons in the summer or skated in 
winter. 

Public-spirited citizens, as individuals or through organiza- 
tions, may take the initiative for playgrounds and organized 
play. In every state in the Union there are laws which permit 
the raising of money by taxation for parks and playgrounds. 
After land has been acquired a director should be secured. 
Young men and women are being trained for this work in a 
number of universities and special training schools, the Y. M. 
C. A. furnishing many who have studied for just such work. 

The immediate effect of such work is to remove boys from 
aimless wandering or lounging about the streets, on corners, in 
poolrooms and other places, where they learn nothing valuable 
and where they probably will degenerate instead of improve. 



PLAY— THE ELIXIR OF LIFE 245 

Parents of the boys and girls thus benefited find that they 
are drawn into social intercourse on common ground. They are 
themselves educated and trained to take part in civic affairs, 
and when people really enter the civic life of the community 
it improves, graft is eliminated, and the community is in the 
way of progress. 

In pleasant weather playgrounds may be used for the very 
small children — those just out of infancy. Outdoor kinder- 
gartens may be established and mothers relieved of the care of 
their children for part of the day, while the little ones are being 
taught to play and led into constructive enterprises under the 
trained leadership of kindergarten teachers. 

Playgrounds depend for their success upon the interest of 
the people of the neighborhood, and, established on correct prin- 
ciples, they never fail to secure and hold this interest. 

There is no other kind of activity which gives more pleasure 
and contributes more to build up a Christian character than that 
tending to social improvements, betterment of the entire neigh- 
borhood, and education of the young. Church organizations 
have found in public playgrounds a common field for work. 

Playgrounds become the rendezvous for all the better influ- 
ences. They improve as rapidly as the people improve and the 
people go ahead rapidly when the way is thus opened. It is 
said that never before, at any time or in any country, was there 
a people so poverty-stricken for play and for frank social in- 
tercourse as those of the United States. Deficiency in this re- 
spect has become more apparent in the last few T years. There 
is nothing to take the place of the democratic "barn raising" or 
"husking bee" of pioneer days. Games and sports, contests 
and rallies, have become greatly commercialized, and even the 
county fair has often been turned into a sort of circus show, en- 
tertainment being too often supplied by professionals and ex- 
hibits supplied by completely commercialized institutions. 

There is a need everywhere for a revival of the old gather- 



PLAY— THE ELIXIR OF LIFE 247 

ings like those of feudal times and later in our own pioneer 
period. But the revival cannot be just like the old. It must be 
on new and modern lines and the public playground, with its 
field-house and "commons," where rich and poor have equal 
rights and everyone must stand on his individual merits, ap- 
pears to be supplying this need. 

E. B. DeGroot, general director of field-houses and play- 
grounds for the South Park Commission of Chicago, said in 
reporting on his work after five years of experience : 

"The dominant interest at a certain period in the life of 
every virile and healthy boy is found in competitive games and 
athletics. It is worthy of the efforts of any institution to fur- 
nish a constructive environment in which boys may live out 
their dominant interests. 

"Uses have been made of our gymnasia by a great number 
of people who were not registered for systematic class work. 
Classes for school children were conducted in all gymnasia six 
afternoons each week, and classes for working boys and girls, 
men and women, were conducted six nights each week. Class 
instruction was suspended on Sundays and the gymnasia were 
conducted on these days merely as playrooms. 

"In addition to the systematic class work, tournaments in 
basketball and indoor baseball were held in the men's gymnasia. 
There were also gymnastic contests and exhibitions. These 
were participated in by hundreds of young men and were wit- 
nessed by thousands of admiring friends. Similar special 
events were conducted in the women's gymnasia. Folk dances, 
invitation basket-ball games and exhibitions in class drills took 
the place of the tournaments and contests held in the boys' 
gymnasia. 

"Under the leadership of one of the field-house directors 
there has been developed a park entertainment society with 
four departments, as follows : 

"Dramatic: Farces, expression plays, sketches, elocution, 
vaudeville. 



248 PLAY— THE ELIXIR OF LIFE 

"Literary: Lectures, debates, current events, poetry, litera- 
ture. 

"Social: Parties, socials, etc. 

"Musical: Vocal and instrumental concerts, minstrels. 

"This entertainment society makes regular use of the halls 
and clubrooms, involving a large number of participants and 
furnishing wholesome entertainment for thousands of specta- 
tors. In another park the director has assisted in the organiza- 
tion of several women's musical clubs, a young men's social 
club, and a band composed of players of concertinas. In still 
another park the director has assisted in the organization of a 
housekeepers' club, a military club, English classes for foreign- 
speaking people, and a civics club. Still another director has 
assisted in the organization of a Scottish club, camera club, and 
a young folks' social club including both sexes. 

"In addition to the activities in the halls and clubrooms, 
more or less under the supervision of the director, there was ex- 
tensive use of the halls for parties by all sorts and conditions of 
people coming from near and remote points. Lectures were 
given by medical associations in an effort to spread knowledge 
of better methods of sanitation and personal hygiene. Many 
stereopticon lectures were given under the auspices of associa- 
tions interested in the promotion of social and civic welfare. 
Many public schools without assembly halls held rehearsals and 
public exercises in the park halls. 

' 'Story hours' for children, under the auspices of women's 
clubs and other agencies, were held in several of the halls and 
clubrooms once a week during the months from October to 
June. Bohemian, Russian, and Lithuanian groups used the 
halls regularly for rehearsals and concerts in several of the 
parks. Neighborhood brass bands and orchestras made use of 
several of the halls for practice. Several literary societies used 
the clubrooms regularly. Clubrooms in three parks were used 
once each month by neighborhood improvement associations. 




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PLAY— THE ELIXIR OF LIFE 251 

An average of more than 200 different events were held each 
month in the assembly halls during the last half of the year. 

"Assembly hall and clnbroom service was furnished free 
in all cases. Political and religious propaganda or meetings 
were not permitted in any of the halls. Groups using the 
halls for parties furnished their own music and supplied door- 
keepers, wardrobe attendants, floor managers, and other nec- 
essary aids. All arrangements and the conduct of the groups 
were supervised by the field-house directors. A lantern and 
operator were furnished free by the Commissioners where 
stereopticon lectures were given. A piano is part of the 
equipment of each hall. 

"A system of shower baths was operated in each of twenty 
indoor gymnasiums each month of the year. These baths 
were not only used by groups who frequented the gymnasi- 
ums, playgrounds, and ball fields, but by men, women, and 
children in the neighborhoods, who used them weekly and 
more often for personal cleanliness and comfort. In many 
quarters the latter use of the baths has demonstrated our in- 
adequate supply of facilities. 

"Swimming pools were operated in eleven parks and a 
bathing beach was operated in one park having Lake Michi- 
gan for its eastern boundary line. 

"The swimming pools not only furnish a means of ob- 
taining a bath, but an unsurpassed form of recreation during 
the hot days of June to September. The total number of 
bathers for four months was 758,149. It was not an uncom- 
mon event in any of the parks to have an attendance of from 
1,000 to 1,200 bathers in one day. The pools were open for 
use from ten o'clock in the morning to ten o'clock at night. 
Girls and women were given the exclusive use of the pools 
two days and nights of each week, boys and men were given 
three days and nights, and the remaining two days of the 
seven were consumed in emptying, cleaning and refilling the 



FLAY- THE ELIXIR OF LIFE 253 

pools. The pools were guarded by a staff of life-savers who 
were not only watchful of the safety of the patrons but gave 
assistance to many who were learning to swim. Each per- 
son who entered the pool was required before entering to take 
a thorough bath and give evidence of freedom from disease. 
These safeguards and watchfulness have enabled us to regard 
the fifth season's operation of the pools without evidence of 
a single case of skin, eye, or throat affections resulting from 
the common use of the common swimming pool. Swimming 
and diving contests arranged by the playground instructors 
were held in many of the pools. 

"Dressing quarters, suits, and towels were furnished free. 
Men's and boys' suits consisted of trunks only; young girls 
were supplied with one-piece bloomers and the older girls 
and women were supplied with bloomers with attached waists 
and skirts. Trunks, suits, and towels were sent to the laundry 
immediately after each use. 

'Tn five parks branches of the public library were oper- 
ated and in five other parks reading-rooms were maintained 
by the Commissioners. In the parks used as library stations 
books were supplied by the Public Library Board under su- 
pervision of trained librarians appointed by that board. In 
all of the parks a great variety of magazines was supplied by 
the Commissioners. 

"The 'story hour,' closely allied with the library service, 
was presented to the children in the parks where branch libra- 
ries were maintained. The story hour was conducted by ex- 
perts in this aspect of library and educational work. The 
increasing use made of the library stations and the value of 
this character of service in the scheme presented in the 
field-house and playgrounds warrant hearty co-operation with 
the Library Board and those who furnish the story hour. 

"Lunch-rooms were operated in seven parks. The total 
number of persons served in the lunch-rooms was 429,857. 






254 PLAY— THE ELIXIR OF LIFE 

The bill of fare included soups, baked beans, boiled eggs, 
sandwiches, pie, cake, ice-cream, lemonade, tea and coffee. 
Salads, cold meats, and relishes were added on occasions of 
special lunches and banquets. The lunch-rooms were super- 
vised by a general manager of lunch-rooms and a local man- 
ager in charge of each park. The latter did his own cooking 
and serving and cared for his equipment. Service and not 
profit was the dominant thought in the operation of the lunch- 
rooms. 

"The value of the park lunch-room to the community is 
very great in the summer, when wholesome refreshments are 
served to men, women, and children who might otherwise seek 
refreshments not only of less food value but of harmful qual- 
ity. Ice-cream especially manufactured by the Commission- 
ers and sold at five cents a dish, furnished a refreshment of 
high food value and hygienic quality at a cost within reach of 
all. The modified and pasteurized milk furnished by the Chi- 
cago Milk Commission and sold at the lunch counters for 
babies was no doubt the means of reducing very materially 
the infantile mortality in the neighborhood of the parks. In 
some parks as many as 300 to 400 bottles of this milk were 
sold in a day. The Visiting Nurses' Association worked in 
co-operation with the distribution of bottled milk. Thus a 
service of great social and scientific value was presented to 
the mothers in the various park communities. 

"Three groups of problems and possibilities present them- 
selves in the operation of the new parks: One is waiting 
upon those who come to use such facilities as baths and lunch- 
rooms; the second is co-operation with those who come with 
definite plans and desires for the use of the halls, clubrooms 
and reading-rooms; and the third is furnishing direction and 
leadership in the gymnasia, playgrounds, halls and club- 
rooms for a receptive public, lacking merely organization or 
appreciation of the free service at hand. Our duty seems ob- 
vious in all three groups of problems. 



PLAY— THE ELIXIR OF LIFE 255 

"In the first it is merely a matter of cheerfully rendered 
service on the part of the employes directly in charge of facil- 
ities. Good quality of service is here assured when employes 
involved are selected and retained who are temperamentally 
suited to the work of serving cheerfully. 

"The second is a matter of supplying a certain number of 
employes with a desire for social service who are also equip- 
ped with sufficient education, refinement and social training 
to meet, greet, and help all sorts of people in all sorts of so- 
cial, educational, musical, and civic welfare endeavor through 
the use of free facilities. 

"The third is a matter which necessitates the selection of 
a certain number of employes who have been trained to do 
definite and precise work. Employes capable of doing this 
work will also be able to do the work specified for the second 
group; thus there will be no duplication. They must be able 
to get up and carry through a programme of organization 
and leadership big and broad enough to serve all who have 
yearnings for any part in the use of the equipment at hand. 

"The latter aspects of service are comparable in a meas- 
ure with the service rendered by the public libraries, public 
schools, and public museums. Up-to-date public libraries 
long ago ceased to consider their functions ended in merely 
waiting upon the public. 

"Extension, promotion, and leadership are now the watch- 
words in public library service. Public schools in many cities 
no longer close their doors at the end of the day of intellec- 
tual training supplied to children, but promote and furnish 
leadership in the use of the school plants for informal educa- 
tion, recreation, and social welfare of the community. Mu- 
seums of art and science in many cities no longer halt with a 
receptive service, but seek to extend their usefulness through 
adequate leadership and promotion. 

"The spirit of the times, therefore, is to use all public 




Ph 



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PLAY— THE ELIXIR OF LIFE 257 

property in a manner to include in specific public service a 
greater degree of general social service. 

"Although customs and traditions in public park service 
have been those of supplying and conserving bits of nature 
for the undirected use of a self-directed public, the concep- 
tion, development, and equipment of the new parks suggest 
meeting in adequate manner all three groups of problems out- 
lined above. In such a comprehensive scope of service the 
new parks keep pace with the march of a complex civilization, 
even as the schools, libraries, and museums strive to keep pace 
with it. It is quite obvious that the greatest service that each 
new park may render lies in supplying a constructive environ- 
ment in the neighborhood in which the park is located. This 
has from the beginning been supplied most admirably in the 
architecture of both grounds and buildings, in the artistic 
treatment of interiors and exteriors, in the planting, and in 
the order and cleanliness of the whole. Such elements of the 
service convey no uncertain message to thousands of people 
each month in the year. Dirt upon the hands and faces of the 
children of the street rubs off when it comes in contact with 
the bathing facilities of the park. Likewise do art and beauty 
'rub off' in contact with young folks in the park and are no 
doubt carried to homes in expressions of home improvement. 

"In the congested neighborhood, with dwelling houses 
built like post-office boxes and void of front and rear door- 
yards, the new park becomes the common front and rear yard 
of the neighborhood. In such a service there are housekeep- 
ing, social, educational, and training problems such as every 
home with its front and rear yard filled with plastic young 
folks has ever expressed. The springs of good citizenship 
and all that is best in men and women have ever been traced to 
the home, with its front and rear yard equipped with oppor- 
tunities for constructive play and contact with stronger per- 
sonalities. 



258 



PLAY— THE ELIXIR OF LIFE 



"Appreciation of these problems and possibilities in the 
service of the new parks has led to the development during 
the year under consideration of the department of field-houses 
and playgrounds. In the hands of this department has been 
placed the function of matching the excellent and efficient 
system of engineering, gardening, and mechanics with an 
equally efficient system of humanics." 




THE OKCIIESTEA PBACTICE 




WHY TEACH A CHILD 
TO PLAY? 



BY G. E. JOHNSON, SUPERINTENDENT OF PLAYGROUND ASSOCIA- 
TION, PITTSBURG, PA. 

THERE are two somewhat paradoxical expressions often 
used by playground people. One is "vacation school," 
the other "supervised play." The paradox disappears, how- 
ever, when we come to think of it. Both expressions are quite 
natural and logical. Vacation suggests leisure and the original 
meaning of the word school was leisure. Leisure has al- 
ways been an essential in education and in human progress. 
The very nature of childhood and the gradual prolongation 
of human infancy illustrate this. Leisure is Time's most pre- 
cious gift to man. The expression "vacation school," one 
might say, means very leisurely leisure, or very educational 
education. This is, perhaps, what Mark Twain meant when 
he said, "Don't let your son's schooling interfere too much 
with his education." 




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WHY TEACH A CHILD TO PLAY? 261 

The expression "supervised play" has particularly of- 
fended some people sensitive to paradox. The rapid growth 
of the playground movement has really raised seriously in the 
minds of some the questions, "Why should we teach children 
to play?" "Can play be supervised?" Recently in Washing- 
ton these very questions were seriously debated in Congress 
and an appropriation for playgrounds was defeated on the 
ground that supervised play was unnatural, that you couldn't 
teach children to play. I was told that one of the distinguished 
gentlemen said, "You might as well try to teach fishes to swim 
as children to play." 

The honorable gentleman was right, quite right, so far as 
he understood what he was talking about. I have much sym- 
pathy with those who note how far in our attempt to educate 
the child we have taken from him his initiative, who object to 
further encroachment upon the sacred domain of childhood. 
But the records of that debate show an entire lack of compre- 
hension and much ignorance of the whole question. Of all 
things, the advocate of supervised play is trying to restore 
initiative to the child. That is just the reason why he advo- 
cates supervision. Why should there be all this sacred pro- 
tection of the instinct of play by the honorable gentleman from 
Tennessee and not of other instincts as well? Hunger is 
deeper than instinct. Would the gentleman advocate that a 
mother should not supervise the appetites of her children? 
Or their hours of sleep? There is an instinct for cleanliness 
in animals even as low in the scale as insects. Would the gen- 
tleman advocate that a mother should not supervise the clean- 
liness of her child? That she should not supervise her child's 
instinct for creeping, for walking, for climbing? But these 
are a young child's plays. Play has always been supervised, 
has always been taught. A bird is taught its song by those 
of its kind. A schoolboy of mine reared a young robin and 
taught it to whistle. It would sing various notes, but never 



262 WHY TEACH A CHILD TO PLAY? 

once gave the call of a robin. There are authentic cases of 
young birds which learned to sing the song of foster parents 
and remained apparently ignorant of the call of their species. 
A song sparrow that was raised by goldfinches sang like a 
goldfinch and never like a song sparrow. Some English star- 
lings imported into this country a few years ago have changed 
their song from that of their English ancestors to one almost 
like that of the purple grackle with which they sometimes as- 
sociate. 

The young of nearly all animals have the instinct of fol- 
lowing. A little girl I knew reared a chicken which followed 
her and would not follow the mother hen. A chicken would 
follow any animal, a fox or a hawk, as soon as a hen, if it 
were not taught. A man raised some young ducks and kept 
the old duck from taking them to the water. After a certain 
time these ducks were taken to the water and they could not 
be made to swim. A kingfisher teaches its young to fish, a 
fox gives its live prey to its young to worry, a cat plays with 
her kittens and a dog teaches her puppies to wrestle. 

Hands off the play instincts? Did instinct devise the 
mother plays? Did your child or the mother originate "This 
little pig went to market'' and the scores of mother plays that 
have been common to all races and all times? In the excava- 
tions in Central America archeologists found baby rattles of 
clay and bone as old as Egyptian monuments, buried in graves 
with tiny skeletons. Did the babies or the mothers invent such 
toys? Mothers have always supervised the play of their little 
ones, fashioned their toys, taught them their games. Froebel 
himself based his mother plays upon what he observed mothers 
do with their children. 

"You might as well teach a fish to swim as a child to play." 
Did a boy ever play baseball who was not taught by some 
one? A boy no more inherits the game of baseball than he 
inherits the Lord's Prayer. What a boy does inherit is an 




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WHY TEACH A CHILD TO PLAY? 265 

instinct for throwing, just as a bird inherits the instinct for 
singing, but not the song. When this instinct is not super- 
vised, what happens? 

Some Pittsburg boys were arrested and brought to the 
juvenile court. They had thrown stones at moving passenger 
cars in the ravine below them. In common with other boys 
they had the instinct for throwing, but it wasn't supervised. If 
it had been, these boys would have been given a ball field, and 
ball throwing would have taken the place of car stoning. Not 
long since I walked behind a group of schoolboys going home 
from school. A stray hen crossed the street and entered a 
vacant lot beyond. The boys saw her. Immediately a fusil- 
lade of stones flew about her until she had narrowly escaped 
up the bank beyond with a whole head upon her. If these 
boys had been carrying ball bats and mitts, I doubt that the 
hen would have been noticed. Boys have been taken to court 
for less serious offenses. Back in the dim ages before Adam, 
boys (or their prototypes) shied stones at birds in earnest. 
Ever since then, stones or other missiles have been thrown by 
each succeeding generation of boys. Throwing is a noble art 
and to-day is best exemplified in the baseball pitcher, whom 
above all men an American boy delights to honor. Baseball 
is a legitimate expression of the throwing instinct of which 
car stoning and hen baiting are the unsupervised form, and 
baseball the supervised. 

Little Tim appeared in our juvenile court for stealing ap- 
ples. He was warned and let go. Again he was tempted and 
fell, and again brought to court, placed under a probation of- 
ficer and sent home. Once more complaint was made and 
Tim was again in court. In despair the probation officer took 
the boy aside and said: "Now, Tim, tell me honest, why do 
you steal these apples? Do you get so hungry for them you 
just can't help it?" The boy looked a little surprised, hung 
his head a moment and then said, "Why, I don't care much 



266 WHY TEACH A CHILD TO PLAY? 

about eating 'em, but I like to have old Smudge chase me." 
Chase him ! And why not ! Thousands of generations of boys 
before him have been chasing some real or fancied good or 
fleeing some real or fancied evil. If Tim's love of the chase 
had been supervised it would have been better. There was 
another boy whose instinct for the chase was supervised. Tag, 
hill dill, prisoners' base, and finally football were taught him 
and one day in a stadium, with twenty-five thousand people 
rising in enthusiasm to their feet, he carried the ball for a gain 
of fifty yards down a protected field. That fact is not much, 
but the qualities of mind and body that enabled him to do it, 
and perhaps also a sense of loyalty acquired and the conscious- 
ness of honor bestowed upon him have helped hold him in after 
life to a high standard of service and achievement. The love 
of chase born in Tim was the same as in the other, but the one 
was supervised and the other not. 

Three boys were arrested for looting trinkets from a ten- 
cent store in Pittsburg. They had a rendezvous where they 
hid all their curious collections. Another boy I know was 
taken into a vacation school. He had been the toughest boy 
in the day school. He made a collection of bugs and butter- 
flies. He caught caterpillars, fed them, made cages for them, 
watched them spin their cocoons, made a net, caught speci- 
mens and mounted them, and his collection at the end of the 
summer was something of a work of art. But all that time 
he did no mischief. Probably not one man in ten who reads 
my words failed in boyhood to make collections of something 
or other. Many kleptomaniacs gather most useless things, 
and who will say that the thief and the scientist do not some- 
times take their first departure from each other because of 
supervised and unsupervised play? 

We are gradually awakening to the realization of what 
the instincts have meant in the progress of the race and what 
they mean in education. The multiplying of instincts and the 



WHY TEACH A CHILD TO PLAY? 



267 



enlargement of their application have determined the line of 

all animal and human 
advancement. And 
yet today we are so 
far neglecting the in- 
stincts in our methods 
of education that 
what in our rapidly 
complicating social 
system might be our 
greatest security, 
often becomes the 
source of greatest dan- 
ger. If we should 
make the briefest pos- 
sible statement of so 
great a truth we would 
say that all the in- 
stincts of man and all 
lines of h u m a n 
achievement are in- 
cluded in these four 
instincts, n a m e 1 y , 
workmanship, imita- 
tion, competition and 
co-operation. 
If you will have patience I should like to continue illustra- 
tions, all of which are taken from the records of our juvenile 
court. It may seem a striking statement, but it is neverthe- 
less perfectly true, that no case ever appeared in the Pittsburg 
Juvenile Court or any other juvenile court in which the act 
committed was not prompted wholly or in part by some im- 
pulse which under other relations and other associations could 
not but be both right and desirable. 




A YOUNG SCOUT IN WINTEE 



268 WHY TEACH A CHILD TO PLAY? 

Some boys were brought before our juvenile court on the 
charge of malicious mischief. They had built a hut in a va- 
cant lot. They were bad boys, I understand, and their meth- 
ods were wrong, but their act comes out of the very heart of the 
instinct of workmanship. What would this world be had it 
not been for this instinct of construction? In this act of the 
boys centered several immemorial streams of heredity, like 
our great rivers into the Ohio, the instincts of shelter, of con- 
struction, of companionship. Had these play instincts been 
supervised and these very acts allowed proper expression, the 
majesty of the law would not have been offended and the 
divine right of these boys would not have been violated. 

Some bo}^s went into a nickelodeon in Pittsburg. The mov- 
ing pictures showed "Fun in a Grocery Store." Not many 
nights later these boys broke in and entered a grocery store. 
They took very little away with them, but the store was a sight 
to look upon; bags ripped open, groceries scattered and cats 
left smothered in flour. We have long professed faith that 
example is better than precept, that the instinct of imitation 
has made possible to the race the perpetuation of the good 
and served as the basis for improvement, but in practical life 
we often abandon our children to evil suggestions and utterly 
desert them in one of the strongest passions of the human 
race, that of the drama. Why do boys play Indian, cowboys 
and robbers? A group of Sharpsburg boys were arrested and 
brought to the juvenile court. They had formed a club of 
outlaws, elected a chief, who wore a mysterious and awe-in- 
spiring decoration, and they tried to carry out the practical 
side of their profession. This was the unsupervised form of 
a play of which the Children's Theatre of New York is the 
supervised. 

The police and criminal courts are full of cases of mis- 
directed rivalry and competition, the right expression of which 
has meant so much to the world. Boy gangs stoning and 



WHY TEACH A CHILD TO PLAY? 



269 



knifing each* other are unsupervised rivalry play, organized 
games the supervised. There is hardly anything finer in the 
social relations of men than the spirit of true sportsmanship 
that despises an unmerited advantage and that is master of 
victory and of defeat. Chivalry developed contemporane- 




THE BOYS' WAND DRILL 

A Valuable Form o«f Exercise Common in the Modern School Gymnasium 



ously with the tournament and the joust. The evils of school 
and college sports are plainly due to lack of right supervision. 
In supervised play only do boys learn best the double lesson 
of how to bear defeat and how to temper victory. 

Not long since, a gang of boys, fourteen in number, were 
arrested in Pittsburg and taken to the police station in a pa- 
trol wagon, because they had gathered together and were 




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WHY TEACH A CHILD TO PLAY? 271 

hanging around the railroad station. They had been warned, 
but when they asked, "Where shall we go?" there was no an- 
swer. They had committed no mischief, but because they "so- 
cialized" in the warmest place they could find, they became 
transgressors of the law. 

This getting together of youths whether in groups for 
loafing, in clubs, or in gangs, belongs essentially to the in- 
stinct of cooperation. Upon this instinct depends the capacity 
of a people for any great public or national achievement. The 
nations of the earth which stand in the front in human pro- 
gress are the nations which have shown the greatest capacity 
for getting together, for cooperative action. This instinct 
developed to a high degree is absolutely essential to a true 
democracy. 

"You might as well teach a fish to swim as a child to play." 
Evidently the gentleman from Tennessee is not familiar with 
the experiment with the tadpoles. These tadpoles were of 
the same age, size, parentage and general conditions. They 
were placed in a series of jars, regularly varying in size, some 
in the smallest jar, some in the next in size, and so on. All 
were treated exactly alike, so far as possible, save only as to 
the size of the jars. At the end of thirty days, it was found 
that the tadpoles had developed proportionately to the size 
of the vessel in which they were placed; the least developed 
were in the smallest vessel, the next better developed in the 
second vessel, and so on, the most developed of all being in 
the largest vessel. 

Poplar Alley is a vessel where society has placed some hu- 
man tadpoles. It is twenty feet wide and eleven hundred feet 
long. There are about four hundred little human tadpoles 
living in this alley and trying to learn to swim successfully in 
the great sea of life. 

Is it not true that environment teaches, that a part of the 
teaching a fish to swim is to give it an opportunity to swim? 



272 WHY TEACH A CHILD TO PLAY? 

A part of the teaching a child to play is giving him an op- 
portunity to play. From deep down in the child come the 
age-old unceasing calls for him to be something, to do some- 
thing. No great mind, no great character ever blessed the 
race, who did not lay the foundation of his individuality, his 
might and his worth in answering to those deep calls of his 
nature. Oh, the pathos of the efforts of little children in some 
of the narrow crowded alleys of our city, vainly trying to 
achieve this self-realization! But there is no sufficient op- 
portunity, — the material that formed the opportunity and the 
need for the nervous reaction of the race through thousands 
of generations of upward progress is wanting — no earth to 
dig in, no water to wade in, no trees to climb, no animals to 
tame, no fruit to gather, no seeds to plant, no banks to jump 
from, no natural dangers to flee from, no pursuers to dodge. 
Like drowning men in a great sea of need, they catch at the 
miserable straws of opportunity and sink, many of them 
never to rise. 

I am reminded of what Luther Burbank says in "The 
Training of the Human Plant." He says: "Every child 
should have mud pies, grasshoppers, water-bugs, tadpoles, 
frogs, mud turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, 
chestnuts, trees to climb, brooks to wade in, water lilies, wood- 
chucks, bats, bees, butterflies, various animals to pet, hay fields, 
pine cones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries and hor- 
nets. And any child who has been deprived of these has been 
deprived of the best part of his education." City children 
can never have any of these things unless we supervise their 
play environment, just as we are trying to do in Arsenal Park. 

The playground enlarges the child's environment. It puts 
our little tadpoles in larger vessels. Society does not always 
appreciate how narrow the environment of many of its chil- 
dren is. Miss Kennard tells the story of a little girl in one 
of our vacation schools who said to her teacher: "Have you 






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274 WHY TEACH A CHILD TO PLAY? 

ever rode in the patrol wagon? My father has three times 
and mother once and when I get big I'm going to." A mission 
worker told her Sunday school class the story of Adam and 
Eve. Later she asked the children, "Where did Adam and 
Eve hide?" There was a pause, then came the answer, "Up 
an alley." It is a far cry from a city alley to the Garden of 
Eden. Perhaps if these children had attended a play festival 
they might have answered "Schenley Park." Last year at the 
Festival some children asked their teacher, "Do they really 
have grass and trees out here all the time?" 

Every year our great rivers overflow their banks, endanger 
life and damage property. No one ever wishes that the rivers 
could be removed, for if they were, Pittsburg would be dead. 
One only wishes that proper channels could be provided. The 
immemorial streams of heredity in our boys and girls often 
break over the barriers of law and convention. We do not 
wish these streams could be removed, for if they were, the 
boys and girls would be dead. We can only wish that proper 
channels be provided. It is a hard lesson for us to learn that 
man's laws too often conflict with nature's laws and that the 
burden is put upon the children. It is pathetic when society 
allows its children, with much show of justice, to feel that 
law is their natural enemy. Not long since a group of boys 
met me on the South Side and appealed for a playground. 
They said: "We can't play in the schoolyard, we aren't al- 
lowed to play in the street. If we play in the brickyard the cop 
drives us off. We haven't any place to play." I was sitting 
on the porch of a well-known clergyman in Pittsburg. He 
had just called his two boys in from the street where they had 
been playing ball. They demurred somewhat, but happening 
to catch sight of a policeman they hastened into the yard and 
said: "Thanks, father, for the tip, the cop is coming." This 
antagonism of the boy against authority is greatly intensified 
in many cases and becomes a serious menace to his proper re- 



WHY TEACH A CHILD TO PLAY? 275 

gard for law. How can it be otherwise when the laws of a 
boy's nature impel him towards activities necessary for his 
best happiness and development, but which run counter to the 
laws of men? 

Besides the normal activities that I have already men- 
tioned, for which boys are sometimes arrested, the records of 
our juvenile court show that boys are arrested for such acts 
as building fires. It is in the blood of every child to build fires. 
No single step in human progress has meant more to the race 
than the conquest of fire. Boys are arrested for banging upon 
shed doors with stones to make a noise. It is a long journey 
from pounding hollow logs and beating tom-toms to a modern 
orchestra, but the kettle drum still persists as one of the in- 
struments. Boys are arrested for going in swimming, for 
playing ball and for answering to the call of spring to the 
neglect of their schooling. All animal life is most powerfully 
affected by the advent of spring and wanderlust is common 
to all species. I once examined the records of a truant school 
and found that through a period of thirteen years there had 
always been a jump in the number of commitments in the 
spring. Had it not been for wanderlust the civilized world 
would still be comprised between the Tigris and the Euphrates 
and America would still be without a human inhabitant. It 
seems pitiful that the qualities that have led the race upward 
and have made it possible for it to be what it is to-day should 
be the qualities that lead many boys to their destruction. Who 
is a bad boy? He is one in whom the streams of heredity run 
deep and strong, in whom the virtues of his ancestors are ex- 
pressed in a tireless energy. The good boy is like him, only he 
has had a fair chance. Other boys are just good — for noth- 
ing in particular. 

What we need in our courts, in our lawyers, and our judges 
is not more law, but more psychology (and I dare express the 
same in regard to our legislators when voting on playground 



276 



WHY TEACH A CHILD TO PLAY? 



appropriations). There was once a judge before whom ap- 
peared a perplexing case. When law failed him, when prec- 
edent was wanting, when testimony conflicted, he had recourse 
to psychology, and Solomon has been known through all these 
ages as the wisest of judges. 

Why teach a child to play? One might as well ask why 
teach a child at all. Play was the mother of education. 
Species and races have advanced proportionately as they have 
played. Nay: as they have taught play. With what perfectly 
adapted and entrancing steps does play still lead the young 
child unto knowledge and efficiency! And when finally he is 
taken into the school, his education is effective proportionately 
as it gathers inspiration and force from the great "stream of 
humanity" which, vastly more than the individual himself, 
determines the issues of each individual life. To try to edu- 
cate children otherwise is to fly in the face of the immutable 
purpose of God Himself, which He has revealed to us in the 
story of evolution. 





OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 

THE INFLUENCE OF OPEN-AIR AND LOW-TEMPERATURE SCHOOL- 
ROOMS ON THE MENTAL ALERTNESS AND SCHOLARSHIP OF 
PUPILS. 

By Frank G. Brunei-, Ph. D., Assistant Director, Department of Child Study and 
Educational Research, Public Schools, Chicago, Illinois. 

LESS than ten years ago a discussion of the topic of the 
open-air schoolroom would have been impossible, for the 
simple reason that aside from an isolated experiment at Char- 
lottenberg, in Germany, seven years ago, there existed no 
material upon which to base it. The idea of placing children 
for teaching purposes under low-temperature conditions or in 
the open air is distinctively new. It marks a change in em- 
phasis, in consideration of the child's and youth's education, 
from an almost exclusive regard for his mental equipment to 
a concern for his more comprehensive needs — the whole child 
in all of his relations. Yet many of us permit ourselves still 



278 OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 

to be misled by the belief that education is a dual or multiple 
process, one set of activities having to do with mind, another 
with brawn, another with culture, and still another with mor- 
als, etc. Educational effort all too largely has simply failed 
to conceive that the child as a whole, his development as a 
coherent process, and his individuality in its integrity, should 
form the point of attack. Education, according to modern 
most progressive views, is concerned not alone with activities 
and process, but with the total environmental surroundings 
conditioning the child's growth and development. Comfort as 
regards seating, favorable lighting conditions, the elimination 
of physical and sensory abnormalities and handicaps, an op- 
timum temperature in which to work, provision for a whole- 
some supply of fresh air; in fine, the entire routine of hygienic 
school accessories, are quite as much educational questions, and 
are so considered, as the place of numbers in the school curric- 
ulum or the methodology of the teaching of reading. As 
educators we should be concerned rather less with the efficiency 
of teaching methods and the immediate successes of our chil- 
dren and youth in the pursuits and callings which they will 
enter after leaving our schools ; but we ought to be rather more 
concerned that the child's environment be such as to minister 
to a healthful development and growth. Happily, if the space 
allotted to hygienic questions on educational programs affords 
any criterion, this desideratum is at hand. We are coming to 
consider the child in his entirety, to know that the mental and 
the physical are not dual interacting organic processes, but 
that in relation to growth and development they are identical ; 
that what ministers to one, ministers to the other equally; 
that fresh air and wholesome food are as essential to mental 
as to physical efficiency; and conversely that an active mind 
and congenial surroundings make for a sound body as well as 



OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 



279 



a sound mind. This leads us directly to a consideration of the 
topic under discussion — open-air and low-temperature school- 
rooms. 

It may be inquired as to what is meant by low-temperature 
and open-air school- 
rooms? The open-air 
classrooms as oper- 
ated in Chicago, New 
York, and most other 
places are pretty 
much alike. The first 
in Chicago were oper- 
ated on the tops of 
buildings. Some are 
now conducted in reg- 
ular classrooms with 
windows wide open 
and the provisions for 
heating not in use. In 
other respects the 
roofrooms and open- 
window classrooms 
are identical. In the 
roof classrooms a roof 
protects the children 
from the rays of the 
sun and rain, and for walls there are used removable windows 
of muslin cloth. On the side of the room away from the wind 
these windows likewise, altho permeable to air, are removed, 
even during the coldest weather. Of course the rooms are 
not heated, but on very cold days the child, in addition to his 
own clothing, is provided with an Eskimo suit, a blanket, and 
a soapstone footwarmer. The enrollment is limited to twenty- 
five. 




NOT LITTLE ESKIMOS 

These are Pupils of Open Air Schools in the 

Costume Prescribed for Their Use 




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OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 281 

The children for these rooms are selected by the regular 
school physician in consultation with the medical specialist 
who directly supervises the open-air classes, and they are en- 
tered only upon the approval of their parents. Of course, 
membership in these centers is limited to those who are tuber- 
cular, in the active or latent stage, and to those so anaemic that 
there is danger that tuberculosis will ensue. 

The routine of the school day varies significantly from that 
in the regular classrooms. On reaching school in the morning 
the child is first given a bath in the school bathroom. He is 
then given a breakfast consisting of an egg, some oatmeal 
porridge, and all the milk he will drink. Then with frequent 
interspersions of physical exercises, games, and drills he pur- 
sues the ordinary school work till noon. At noon he is pro- 
vided with a heavy soup or broth, two soft-boiled eggs, bread, 
butter, and jelly, a simple dessert, and again all the milk he 
will drink. After the noonday meal, partaken of within doors, 
the children again repair to the open air, and on cots pro- 
vided for the purpose, and snugly wrapped in woolen blankets, 
sleep for an hour. They are then awakened and they pursue 
their regular school work until a quarter past three, when they 
return to their homes for the night, just as do other children. 

In all of the exercises of the day pains are taken that the 
child shall enjoy every freedom that does not partake of li- 
cense. He arises from his seat and walks about the room 
whenever he chooses, the aim being to maintain a cheerful and 
unstrained mental attitude, so that the circulation, digestion, 
and assimilative processes shall be stimulated and kept at a 
maximum. In these rooms the temperature and humidity of 
course fluctuate with the out-of-doors atmospheric conditions. 

It will be seen from what has just been detailed that sev- 
eral factors other than pure air must be taken into account as 
possibly contributing to any mental alertness and improved 
scholarship that may result. They are: (1) a higher relative 



282 OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 

humidity, (2) a liberal provision of nutritious food, (3) a 
smaller class membership (twenty-five as compared with fifty 
in the regular classes ) , ( 4 ) a freedom from restraint and con- 
sequent lowering of nervous tension and nervous dissipation, 
(5) a period of complete relaxation and recuperation in the 
middle of the day. So far as my knowledge goes, no attempt 
has anywhere been made to isolate these factors in a scientific 
manner, so as to determine the relative influence of each in 
contributing to health and accelerated mental growth. It 
would be clearly illogical to ascribe all of the improvement to 
the open-air regime. Indeed one would be clearly unwar- 
ranted in selecting any one of the factors enumerated and at- 
tributing any improvement noted to it alone. 

We are practically altogether at sea regarding differences 
in constitution between impure, vitiated air and pure, whole- 
some air. We do know, however, that delicate tuberculous 
children and adults become stronger and get well out of doors, 
while they become weaker and die when confined in rooms in 
which others live with them, such as schoolrooms, dwelling- 
houses, and factories. Purity of the air, especially in cities, 
moreover, is affected by a number of complex factors, other 
than those simply of ventilation. Among others are the con- 
struction of streets, the amount of dust raised by vehicles of 
transportation, the disposition of waste materials in alleys and 
streets, noxious gases and soot particles thrown out of chim- 
neys, which inevitably find their way into the air passages 
and lungs, bad teeth, noxious catarrhs, dirty clothing, and the 
unclean, ill-smelling bodies of those occupying the same room. 
It is thus not safe always to assume that the air is pure and 
vitalizing because one is out of doors. 

It has been estimated that between thirteen and twenty 
thousand tons of sulphurous dioxid, not to mention particles 
of carbon in the soot, are poured into the air daily from the 
burning of fuel in such centers of population as Chicago and 



OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 283 

New York, thus poisoning the air which must be breathed. 
Decaying cavities in teeth — and 60 per cent of children in 
many neighborhoods are afflicted with bad teeth — and chronic 
catarrhal conditions of the nose and throat are sending out 
millions of harmful bacteria all about us. The odors arising 
from putrid and catarrhal conditions, dirty clothing, and un- 
sanitary bodies exercise a depressing influence on mental and 
physiological activities. 

Dr. Sedgwick examined the contents of a cubic foot of air 
five feet above a macadamized street of a city when the dust 
had been raised by a brisk wind and found it contained ap- 
proximately six hundred thousand micro-organisms, many of 
them extremely injurious. Fortunately most microbes do not 
get into the system. They are filtered out and oxidized in the 
upper air passages of the nose, which are peculiarly con- 
structed to perform this function, and especially if the indi- 
vidual habitually breathes through his nose ; but some, notwith- 
standing, find their way into the lungs. 

But what is the main defect in the air of rooms poorly ven- 
tilated that makes it depressing and unfit to breathe ? Investi- 
gations have been numerous, seeking to determine what are 
the constituents of expired air that make it unwholesome. 
The popular belief is that it is due to the presence of CO2. 
But careful experimental investigations have proven conclu- 
sively that only under extremely extraordinary conditions is 
the amount of CO. in a room in which people are living, or in 
a classroom or lecture-room, sufficient to affect, in any detect- 
able manner, the physiological processes or mental work of an 
individual. Indeed, only a few instances are on record in 
which the ratio of eight parts in ten thousand — the alleged 
perfectly safe normal ratio — has been exceeded. Artificial 
ventilating systems which supply above one thousand five 
hundred cubic feet of air per hour for each inmate easily keep 
the quantity of CO2 below the required ratio. The Massa- 



OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 285 

chusetts law requires that the inflow of fresh air per person 
shall exceed eighteen hundred cubic feet, so that in classrooms 
the air practically never contains an injurious excess of car- 
bonic-acid gas. 

Pure air, moreover, does not imply that air shall be rich in 
oxygen and ozone. More oxygen does not necessarily mean 
more vitality. Concentrated doses of oxygen, indeed, in 
amounts of one part to two hundred and fifty, act as a poison 
on the human organism. They induce convulsions, inflamma- 
tion of the lungs, and death. There is a small quantity of 
free ozone, to be sure, in the air, but ordinarily this does not 
reach the lungs; it is caught by the organic matter in the air 
passages leading to the lungs, oxydizing it and helps, there- 
fore, to purify the air, but even a normal quantity of free 
ozone in the air may induce nasal catarrh, bronchitis, and 
asthma by the constant irritating of the mucous surfaces with 
which it comes in contact. 

With reference to the anthropotoxins (the organic mat- 
ters) exhaled in respiration, Brown- Sequard, Billings, Mitch- 
ell, and others have given us some definite experimental data 
upon which to base a conclusion. When expired air is con- 
densed and liquefied, there results a clear, odorless liquid 
which contains only a trace of organic matter. Its effect on 
guinea-pigs and human beings when taken internally or in- 
jected into the blood is found to be wholly indifferent and 
harmless. Other experiments in which mice were compelled 
to breath the expired air, each of the other, when other con- 
ditions were normalized also gave negative results. The con- 
clusion is thus forced upon one that other factors than defi- 
cient oxygen, excess of C0 2 , or the presence of anthropotoxins 
are responsible for the devitalization of indoor air. 

Of late there is a disposition to attribute the stuffiness and 
deadness of air in heated schoolrooms and dwellings to its lack 
of moisture, its low relative humidity as compared with the 



286 OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 

out-of-door air. In the lake region in which Chicago is lo- 
cated the average outside humidity is in the neighborhood of 
72 per cent, varying greatly, to be sure, from day to day, with 
fluctuations in temperature. In artificially heated rooms 
(schoolhouses, factories, and dwellings) the average relative 
humidity rarely exceeds 30 per cent. In Nebraska the rela- 
tive humidity of artificially heated rooms seldom gets as high 
as 20 per cent for the winter months. These differences be- 
tween the moisture indoors and out of doors are striking, but 
out-of-door variations are often quite as pronounced. Along 
the California coast, day after day, the average relative humid- 
ity may approach 100 per cent at dawn and fall to 22 per cent 
at noon. At Denver the out-of-door mean relative humidity 
for the entire year is only 42 per cent. 

Attempts have been made to overcome the great differ- 
ences between out-of-door and indoor relative humidity by a 
process of humidifying the air, and if we are to believe re- 
ports the results have been gratifyingly satisfactory. The air 
in the American Bell Telephone Building at Boston is kept 
at a relative humidity of 50 per cent by injecting into the en- 
tering hot-air current a jet of steam; 675 gallons of water 
(twenty- two barrels) in the form of steam is required for this 
purpose every ten hours. The practice of humidifying the 
air was followed also in one of the Chicago school buildings, 
but the results were not accurately tabulated, so it is impos- 
sible to state just how much the air was humidified. A few 
years ago some careful experiments on humidifying air were 
made by Professor Loveland at the University of Nebraska. 
These covered thirty days. Two seven-room houses, alike in 
construction and each heated by a hot-air furnace of the same 
make, were selected for experimentation. It was found that 
to raise the relative humidity of one 10 per cent above the 
other, as indicated by the hygrometer — i. e., from 20 per cent 
to 30 per cent — it was necessary to evaporate sixty-four gal- 



OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 287 

Ions of water daily. It was further demonstrated that the or- 
dinary furnace or radiator pan, or vessels of water placed 
about rooms, affect the humidity so little that it is not regis- 
tered by the hygrometer, which means the influence is less than 
a fraction of one per cent. Most persons will testify to feel- 
ing a considerable difference in the character of the air as a 
result of such evaporating devices, but the difference is un- 
questionably psychological rather than physical. 

At the Boston Telephone Building it is asserted the rooms 
are as comfortable with a temperature of sixty-nine degrees 
Fahrenheit, relative humidity 50 per cent, as they formerly 
were at seventy degrees Fahrenheit and the drier air. The 
relation between dry or humidified air and bodily comfort is 
by no means a simple one. To determine exactly what this 
relation is requires a finer and more discriminating line of ex- 
perimentation than has yet been undertaken. We know, for 
example, that a temperature of eighty to eighty-five degrees 
Fahrenheit with a high relative humidity is more oppressive 
than a temperature of ninety degrees Fahrenheit with a very 
low relative humidity. But what are the physiological effects 
of high and low humidity in temperatures ranging from sixty 
to seventy-two degrees Fahrenheit ? We know little or nothing 
definite. After all, it is not the relative humidity of the air 
which is significant in affecting vital processes so much as the 
air's thirst or drying power. Thus air at fifty degrees Fahren- 
heit with a relative humidity of 36 per cent and air with a 
temperature of eighty-six degrees Fahrenheit and relative 
humidity of 80 per cent have exactly the same drying power. 
That is, to become completely saturated, each requires the 
same quantity of watery vapor per unit volume. A cubic foot 
of air at fifty degrees Fahrenheit, relative humidity 36 per 
cent, and a cubic foot of air at eighty-six degrees Fahrenheit, 
relative humidity 80 per cent, will each absorb .0,003,756 
pounds of water, and hence the effect on the mucous tissues 




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OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 289 

of the nose, throat, and lungs ought to be the same, although a 
relative humidity of 80 per cent, eighty-six degrees Fahren- 
heit, is considered high, while a relative humidity of 36 per 
cent is thought of as very low, when dissociated from the tem- 
perature of the air. Arid climates are generally not thought 
of as being particularly conducive to catarrhal affections. 
Neither do the wide ranges in humidity experienced along the 
California coast during the course of each day seem to be 
particularly unhealthful. Places of low relative humidity in- 
deed appear to be famous as health retreats for those afflicted 
with bronchial and lung troubles. In truth, the humidity fac- 
tor is still very largely an undetermined one, and before one 
can become assertive more will have to be learned as to how 
it affects physiological functions, and that under careful ex- 
perimental conditions. Whether a room not heated beyond 
sixty to sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit, with a relative humid- 
ity of 60 per cent, - or 70 per cent, is as comfortable as one 
heated to seventy-two degrees Fahrenheit, relative humidity 
40 per cent, is also still problematical. Dr. Hill claimed to have 
gotten very good results with a schoolroom temperature of 
fifty-seven to sixty degrees, relative humidity 70 per cent. 
German and English homes, moreover, are rarely heated 
above sixty-nine degrees Fahrenheit, but these peoples have 
accustomed themselves to a lower temperature. They are 
healthy, but whether under our different climatic conditions 
this would be true generally remains yet to be determined. 
In Germany and England sudden wide fluctuations in out-of- 
door temperatures do not occur. Rises and falls in tempera- 
ture from twenty degrees to forty degrees Fahrenheit do not 
occur within the space of a few hours, as is common in the 
lake states, and their human organisms are not subjected to 
the strain of sudden adaptations to the changes they are un- 
prepared for, as are ours. These sudden adaptations and other 
factors vet to be determined must be reckoned with in a con- 



290 OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 

sideration of the optimum condition of the air for good health. 
Three factors conditioning the results obtained in open-air 
and low-temperature rooms have yet to be considered: (a) the 
influence of a small class enrollment; (b) the period of com- 
plete relaxation and rest in the middle of the day, and (c) 
that of wholesome food and proper habits of eating. 

Inasmuch as the open-air rooms look to the improved health 
rather than to a bettering of the scholarship of the children, 
a general freedom and feeling of lack of restraint was en- 
couraged. This is possible with an enrollment as small as 
twenty-five, whereas it offers a problem far more complicated 
when a teacher has larger numbers to handle. The children 
were encouraged to be happy, to forget their afflictions and 
the handicaps which caused them to fall behind in their class- 
work. The emotional reactions were striking. Truant habits 
were broken up, the aforetime helplessness and mental indif- 
ference disappeared, and a consequent alertness and spontane- 
ous interest in the routine of the school work developed. Not 
the small enrollment, to be sure, nor any other one factor 
alone was responsible for this change. It is more probable that 
each contributed its share, of which the part due to the small 
enrollment unquestionably was not insignificant. 

It seems like indulging in platitudes to mention the role 
played by the factor of wholesome food. Many of the chil- 
dren coming to the rooms were injudiciously fed, and nearly 
all underfed. So weak, anaemic, and impoverished were their 
little bodies that even a modicum of mental vigor was alto- 
gether impossible. With the increased metabolism and the 
building up of their physical organisms there followed, very 
obviously, an acceleration in the mental responsiveness, which 
in the absence of all other factors would of course have been 
clearly manifest. 

The importance of the last factor, that of complete relaxa- 
tion and rest, is not often considered. Its significance, too, it 




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292 OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 

is to be feared, is altogether too lightly held. During the 
past two or three decades a not inconsiderable number of stud- 
ies have been made of school children, all pointing to the 
fact that the curve of fatigue during the school day runs as- 
tonishingly high. The reaction of the results of these fatigue 
studies has been in the direction of a rearrangement of the 
daily program, so as to put difficult and taxing studies at 
those hours when the fatigue curves were least manifest and 
to fill in the periods of high fatigue with recreation exercises. 
The advisability of allowing the children opportunity for com- 
plete relaxation, sound sleep, with a lowering of the pulse 
rate, a slowing down of respiration, a diminished metabolism, 
and a consequent recuperation of the nerve centers, had not 
received notice until put into practice by those dealing with 
children of low vitality and physical depletion — those with 
tubercular and anaemic tendencies. 

The effect of this daily siesta in the way of enhancing the 
children's physical vigor and developing an increased mental 
alertness and plasticity, it is perfectly logical to believe, must 
be very striking. It doubtless contributed no small part to- 
ward developing more efficient school reactions on the part of 
the children in the open-air and low-temperature rooms. 

Chicago's experiment with this special class of school- 
rooms has been too brief for us to become dogmatic. Yet 
some results which are fairly astounding have been attained. 
It is really unfortunate that it is impossible to isolate, differ- 
entiate, and assign the proper weights to the several factors 
responsible for them. On the mental side alone, children who 
had shown three and four years of retardation in their stud- 
ies were able to complete the school work of one and a-half, 
and in four instances of two, grades in a single year. The 
truant records which followed many of the children of the 
schools disappeared. The discipline cases vanished, and the 
forcing process on the part of the teacher was displaced by a 



OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 293 

wholesome individual initiative and interest. The maximum 
number of taps that could be made in a minute's time with a 
tapping device, in the course of three months, increased from 
4 per cent in some cases to 23 per cent in others. There was 
observed an increased adaptability, a greater resourcefulness, 
a keener insight in the unraveling of puzzling situations, and 
appreciable development in persistence and tenacity in solving 
difficult and complex problems. 

The fruits which the open-air and low-temperature rooms 
have yielded are well worth the financial outlay entailed, when 
the heightened physical and mental efficiency of the children, 
who were enrolled, are taken into account. A large percent- 
age of the two hundred odd children who were given these 
special advantages would otherwise unquestionably have suc- 
cumbed as a result of the deadly inroads of tuberculosis, and 
the economic loss resulting from the death or the physical and 
mental impairment of a growing individual is easily reckoned. 
In the aggregate the economic waste, aside from humanita- 
rian considerations, would have been tremendous. As it 
stands, the children have been developed into producers, and 
thus through their contributions to society will far more than 
remunerate it for the additional expense incurred in a few 
months of their special education. 

The possibilities, however, of making such school advan- 
tages as obtain in the open-air rooms more universal, rest 
largely upon financial grounds. The increased per-capita cost 
incident to maintaining such schools is of course prohibitive 
when considered in the large, and until some means for ob- 
taining school revenues not now available is at hand, open-air 
rooms will have to be limited to those children whose health is 
in peril. They will have to be considered in the light of in- 
strumentalities for recovering those who have gotten beyond 
the reach of the ordinary school and health agencies. 

But the experiment of the open-air and low-temperature 



294 



OPEN AIR SCHOOLS 



rooms has had a wider import. As in the case of most activi- 
ties for the amelioration of the condition of the unfortunates, 
there has resulted a reflex effect upon the habits and methods 
of ministering to the needs of normal individuals. Were no 
other effect manifest, the reaction which open-air rooms have 
had in directing attention to the proper ventilation of school- 
houses, dwellings, and factories, to directing attention to the 
need for pure air — as near out-of-door air as possible — on the 
part of all individuals, would be abundantly worth the effort 
and expense entailed. Only recently and all unconsciously 
has the human been making the transition from an out-of-door 
to an indoor dwelling animal and it always requires a rather 
intense agitation to bring to an individual's consciousness the 
necessity for modifying the conditions of his habitat so as to 
make his readjustment to a new order of life safe and whole- 
some. Such the focus of attention upon open-air school- 
rooms, it is hoped, has accomplished. 




A MOTHERS' MEETING ON THE SANDS 




FOOD FOR CHILDREN 

By Alice P. Norton 

PROFESSOR OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE, SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, 
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. 



THE mother who wishes to do her very best in planning 
for her family and in helping them to keep well and 
strong, often finds herself much puzzled to know how to pro- 
vide suitable food for her children, especially for those who 
have outgrown babyhood and who are beginning to share the 
family diet. 

Her problems might be summed up in these questions: 
What kind of food? 
How much food? 
When shall it be eaten? 
What should it cost? 
The Kind of Food 
1. It should be simple and plainly prepared. 
There should be no rich cakes and pastry, no highly spiced 



296 FOOD FOR CHILDREN 

food, no fried food, particularly for the younger children; 
there should not he too many things at the same meal — often 
only one or two dishes are best. 

2. It should be easily digestible. 

The digestibility of a food often depends on fineness of 
division. Children should be taught to chew thoroughly. 
Such foods as peas, beans and corn that might be swallowed 
without sufficient chewing, should be rubbed through a strainer 
for younger children, and served either as a vegetable or a 
cream soup. One reason why bananas are often indigestible 
is that they so easily slip down the throat in large pieces. For 
the same reason cheese is better mixed with macaroni or rice. 
Fresh bread that can be pressed into a gummy mass is very 
indigestible. Each child should be watched carefully for any 
sign of indigestion and its food changed accordingly. 

3. It should furnish the material the body needs for 
growth. 

Milk, cheese, eggs, meat, fish, cereals, bread, macaroni, 
peas, beans and lentils all contain a good deal of substance 
called protein, that is a muscle-building food. Children need 
a good deal of food containing protein, or they will not grow 
as rapidly as they ought, or have firm, hard flesh. Lime, 
phosphorus, iron, and similar materials, in the form of mineral 
salts, are needed for growth besides the protein. These are 
necessary to make good bones and firm teeth. They are 
needed, too, for the blood and other body fluids. Milk, and 
most fruits and vegetables contain a large amount of mineral 
salts, It is absolutely necessary that besides milk the child 
should have fruit and vegetables in its diet. Many children 
do not like vegetables, but they will eat them in Scotch broth, 
in a cream soup, or in a meat stew, and they can gradually be 
taught to like many kinds. Fruit for the little child should 
be cooked or scraped fine. 

4. It should furnish energy, that is, heat and activity. 



FOOD FOR CHILDREN 297 

To make the child able to run and play as well as to keep 
him warm, he must have food that can be burned in the body, 
or fuel foods, and he must breathe in enough air to burn 
them. 

Protein in the foods will furnish this energy, but protein 
foods are usually expensive. Besides, the body does not 
flourish as well if it has too much protein. The protein must 
be used chiefly to build the muscles and tissues of the body, 
with sugar and starch, called carbohydrates, and fat for fuel. 

Milk, cream, cheese, butter, butterine, olive oil, fat meat, 
oatmeal, cornmeal, chocolate and nuts contain fats. Rice, 
wheat and other cereals, bread, macaroni, potatoes, peas, beans, 
and many vegetables contain starch. Milk and most fruits 
contain sugar. It is better for children to get most of their 
sugar from milk and fruits than from candy, because the milk 
and fruits contain the mineral salts that are so necessary. 

5, Water is needed to cleanse the body, to regulate its 
heat, and to help the food to digest. 

Nearly all our foods contain some water, while milk and 
most fruits and vegetables contain a great deal, but they do not 
have enough to supply all that is needed. Children should 
drink a great deal of water, several glasses a day. This may 
be taken either between meals, or at meal time, but the food 
must not be "washed down" with it. When the water is not 
safe for drinking it should be boiled. Tea and coffee should 
not be given to children. They hinder growth and take away 
the appetite for real food. Hot water with a little milk and 
sugar, or "crust coffee," made from toasted bread, will give 
a hot drink for cold weather. 

THE AMOUNT OF FOOD AND ITS MEASURE 

Every mother knows that the well, strong child who is ac- 
tive in play and work demands more food as he grows larger 
and older. If he has the right kind of food and takes it at the 




THE MODERN DRINKING CUP 



FOOD FOR CHILDREN 299 

right time and chews it thoroughly, there is little danger that 
he will eat too much, and if food is at hand he will himself see 
that he has enough. But the less vigorous child, or the child 
who wakes up in the morning unrefreshed, perhaps because 
he has not had enough fresh air through the night, or the child 
who has bought candy or pickles on the way home from school 
and so temporarily satisfied his appetite, may not get enough 
food to make him grow as he should and to provide for his 
activity. 

Whether he is gaining enough will be shown by weighing 
him; but whether he is pale, listless, irritable, because he has 
not enough food, is not easy to tell, or for some other reason. 
To help us to decide whether lack of food is the trouble, cer- 
tain amounts have been determined upon that will be right for 
the average child, and we may compare the amount we are giv- 
ing with these standards. Just as dresses are made up in sizes 
to fit different ages, so a certain amount of food is suggested 
for the child from two to five, from six to nine, from ten to 
fourteen. But just as a dress may not fit a child of the age for 
which it is planned, because the child is larger or smaller than 
the average, so the weight of the child, as well as the age, helps 
in showing how much food is needed. 

It is not convenient to measure the food in pounds, be- 
cause, as we have seen, our foods contain different substances 
of different values. Some foods, too, are nearly all water; 
and though water is very necessary, we can get it so easily that 
we do not think it of importance in food. 

A convenient way to measure the amount of food needed 
is to measure the heat that may be obtained from it when it is 
burned. Protein, carbohydrates and fat can all be burned. 
Mineral salts cannot; but, though they are so important, they 
are very small in amount, and we nearly always find them with 
our protein, carbohydrate and fat. In order to measure the 
heat, we must have some unit of measure, and the one we use 



300 FOOD FOE CHILDREN 

is called calorie. Just as we say ten or twelve yards of cloth, 
so we may say ten or twelve calories of heat. A calorie is 
about the amount of heat that will raise the temperature of a 
pint of water four degrees Fahrenheit. A pound of starch, 
if burned, would raise the temperature of about 1,800 pints 
of water four degrees Fahrenheit, so we say a pound of starch 
yields 1,800 calories, or its fuel value is 1,800 calories. 

For convenience many people now are comparing the 
amounts of various foods that have a fuel value of 100 calories. 

2/3 of a glass of milk, 3 large prunes, 

1 egg, 1 banana, 

1 pat of butter, 1 good-sized baked potato, 

1 thick slice of bread, 2 servings of carrots, 

2 graham crackers, 1 small chop, 

2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 small serving of beef, 
2 apples, 

each represent about 100 calories. A child of two years should 
have each day about 1,200 calories, i. e., a glass of milk or an 
egg would be 1-12 of the food needed. The tables given be- 
low show the amount of food children of different ages and 
weights need. 

Children of normal size, development and activity will re- 
quire about as follows: 

Boys of 14-17 years, 2,500-3,000 calories. 

Girls of 14-17 years, 2,200-2,000 calories. 

Children of 10-13 years, 1,800-2,200 calories. 

Children of 6-9 years, 1,400-2,000 calories. 

Children of 2-5 years, 1,200-1,500 calories. 

Children of 1-2 years, 900-1,200 calories. 

Children under 1 year should have about 45 calories per 
pound of weight. 

Under 1-2 years should have about 45-40 calories per 
pound of weight. 



FOOD FOE CHILDREN 301 

Under 2-5 years should have about 40-35 calories per 
pound of weight. 

Under 6-9 years, should have about 35-31 calories per 
pound in weight. 

Under 10-13 years should have about 31-27 calories per 
pound in weight. 

Under 14-17 years should have about 27-20 calories per 
pound in weight. 

It must be remembered that the calorie is used only to 
measure the amount of food, and in planning of the food care 
must be taken that enough protein and mineral salts should 
be included. Fat in some form, too, is needed. A two-year- 
old child might get enough calories for one day from sugar, 
but the child would not grow, since there would be no ma- 
terial for making muscle or bones or teeth; while an equal 
number of calories supplied by milk would give this material. 
If the child has a "mixed diet," using milk, eggs, some meat, 
bread, cereals, vegetables and fruits, and has enough to eat, 
he can hardly fail to get all he needs of the right kind of ma- 
terial. 

When shall the food be eaten? 

1. At three meals at regular times, seated quietly at the 
table. 

2. The little child needs more than three meals a day, so 
a mid-morning and mid-afternoon lunch should be regularly 
given. 

3. The child of school age, too, needs usually a simple 
lunch in the middle of the morning. The school often gives 
a chance for this, since the children do much better work the 
latter part of the morning if they have had it. A simple lunch 
of milk and graham crackers, a cup of cocoa, an apple, or a 
bread and butter sandwich, is all that is needed. Candy should 
come at the end of a meal in place of dessert instead of 
before the meal. 



302 



FOOD FOB CHILDREN 




WE PLAY BASKETBALL' 



WHAT SHOULD IT COST? 

This is almost the hardest question of all. The price of 
food varies so much in different parts of the country, in dif- 
ferent parts of the city, and at different times, that twenty- 
five cents might buy almost twice as much at one time as at 
another. Fifteen cents a day seems, on the whole, a reason- 
able amount to spend for the younger children, while it takes 
a good deal of planning to make this enough for the older 
children. If the cost of food must be as low as possible, it is 
well to remember that the cheaper cuts of meat are as nu- 
tritious as the expensive ones, and that the extra cost of fuel 
for cooking them is very slight. Broken rice costs much less 
than whole grains and is just as good, except for appearance. 



FOOD FOR CHILDREN 



303 



Butterine, beef fat, cotton seed oil products, may often be 
substituted for butter, and in cooked food the difference can 
hardly be detected. When meat and eggs are high, more 
dried peas, beans and lentils may be used. 

Sometimes buying in bulk is much cheaper than by the 
package. It is worth while to find out whether a good qual- 
ity of cereal can be bought in bulk for a less price than in the 
package. The labels on the package should be read, as what 
is called a pound package often contains as little as fourteen 
ounces. Crackers may be bought in bulk, if they are handled 
in a cleanly manner and kept in a clean place. Broken crack- 
ers may often be bought cheaply. Skim milk may often be 
used, and the needed fat added to the diet in a cheaper form 
than milk fat. By knowing what kind of food her family 
needs each mother is helped in substituting cheaper materials 
for more expensive ones whenever it is necessary, while still 
providing right food. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR MEALS 

Meals for children whose mothers work out all day 
dishes may be put in the tireless cooker. 



Noon 



MORNING 

Oatmeal 
Milk 
Bread 

NOON 

Scotch broth 
Dried bread 
Cookies 



MORNING MORNING MORNING 

Mush and syrup Creamed codfish Hominy 
Crust coffee ( for 



a cold day' 

NOON 

Corn bread 
Apple sauce 



NOON NOON 

Lentil soup Cabbage, carrots 
and potato stew 



NIGHT NIGHT NIGHT NIGHT 

Rice with Red beans Beef stew with Macaroni and 

mutton with beef vegetables cheese 

Food for one day for a child 2 to 5. Price about 15 cents. 
Fuel value, 1200-1500. 



304 FOOD FOB CHILDREN 

BREAKFAST 

Orange Juice: 4 tablespoons. 
Cream of Wheat: % cup. 
Milk: l 1 /^ teacups. 
Bread. 

LUNCH, 11 O'CLOCK 

Pulled Bread: 1 oz. 
Milk: 1 teacup. 

DINNER 

Cream of Split Pea Soup: 1 cup. 

Bread and Butter. 

Rice Pudding with Raisins. 

LUNCH, 4 O'CLOCK 

Graham Crackers: 2. 

SUPPER 

Milk Toast. 
Baked Apple. 

Food for one day for a child 6 to 9. Price about 15 cents. 
Fuel value 1400-2000 calories. 

BREAKFAST 

Rice and Dates : % cup ri ce with 4 dates. 

Milk: 1-3 cup. 

Toast with Butter or Butterine. 

MID-MORNING 

Milk: 1 glass. 

Brown Bread and Butter or Butterine. 

DINNER 

Fish Chowder: 1 cup to l 1 /? cups. 
Crackers. 
Rhubarb Sauce. 
Cookies: 2. 



FOOD FOE CHILDREN 305 

SUPPER 

Creamed Egg and Toast. 
Milk: 1 glass. 
Gingerbread. 

Food for one day for a child 10 to 13. Cost about 15 
cents. Fuel value 1800-2200 calories. 

BREAKFAST 

Oatmeal: % cup. 

Milk: 1/4 cup. 

Bread and Butter or Butterine. 

Stewed Dried Apples. 

LUNCH 

Rice and Cheese: y 2 cup. 
Bread and Butter or Butterine. 
Banana. 

DINNER 

Beef Stew: 2-3 cup, with vegetables. 

Corn Bread and Butter or Butterine: 2 pieces. 

Apricot Shortcake. 







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THE SOCIAL CENTER 

A MEANS OF COMMON UNDERSTANDING BY HON. WOODROW 
WILSON, GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY. EXCERPTS FROM AN 
ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE FIRST NATIONAL CONFER- 
ENCE ON CIVIC AND SOCIAL CENTER DEVELOPMENT, AT MADI- 
SON, WIS., OCTOBER 25, 1911. 



I DO not feel that I have deserved the honor of standing here 
upon this occasion to make what has been courteously 
called the principal address, because five months ago I did not 
know anything about this movement. I have taken no active 
part in it, and I am not going to assume, as those who have 
preceded me have assumed, that you know what the movement 
is. I want, if for no other purpose than to clarify my own 
thinking, to state as briefly as possible, what the movement is. 
The object of the movement is to make the schoolhouse the 
civic center of the community, at any rate in such communi- 
ties as are supplied with no other place of common resort. 



308 THE SOCIAL CENTER 

READY FOR USE THE MEANS OF CONCERTING COMMON LIFE 

It is obvious that the schoolhouse is in most communities 
used only during certain hours of the day, those hours when 
the rest of the community is busily engaged in bread- winning 
work. It occurred to the gentlemen who started this move- 
ment that inasmuch as the schoolhouses belonged to the com- 
munity it was perfectly legitimate that the community should 
use them for its own entertainment and schooling when the 
young people were not occupying them. And that, therefore, 
it would be a good idea to have there all sorts of gatherings, 
for social purposes, for purposes of entertainment, for pur- 
poses of conference, for any legitimate thing that might bring 
neighbors and friends together in the schoolhouses. That, I 
understand it, in its simplest terms is the civic center move- 
ment — that the schoolhouses might be made a place of meet- 
ing — in short, where by meeting each other the people of a 
community might know each other, and by knowing each other 
might concert a common life, a common action. 

SPONTANEOUS DEVELOPMENT 

The study of the civic center is the study of the spontaneous 
life of communities. What you do is to open the schoolhouse 
and light it in the evening and say: "Here is a place where 
you are welcome to come and do anything that it occurs to 
you to do." 

And the interesting thing about this movement is that a 
great many things have occurred to people to do in the school- 
house, things social, things educational, things political — for 
one of the reasons why politics took on a new complexion in 
the city in which this movement originated was that the people 
who could go into the schoolhouses at night knew what was 
going on in that city and insisted upon talking about it, and 
the minute they began talking about it, many things became 



THE SOCIAL CENTER 309 

impossible, for there are scores of things that must be put a 
stop to in our politics that will stop the moment they are talked 
of where men will listen. The treatment for bad politics is 
exactly the modern treatment for tuberculosis — it is exposure 
to the open air. 

Now you have to begin at the root of the matter in order 
to understand what it is you intend to serve by this movement. 
You intend to serve the life of communities, the life that is 
there, the life that you cannot create, the life to which you can 
only give release and opportunity; and wherein does that life 
consist? That is the question that interests me. There can 
be no life in a community so long as its parts are segregated 
and separated. It is just as if you separated the organs of 
the human body and then expected them to produce life. You 
must open wide the channels of sympathy and communication 
between them, you must make channels for the tides of life; 
if you clog them anywhere, if you stop them anywhere, why 
then the processes of disease set in, which are the processes of 
misunderstanding, which are the disconnections between the 
spiritual impulses of different sections of men. 

MEANS TO THE UNITY OF COMMUNITIES 

My interest in this movement, as it has been described to 
me, has been touched with enthusiasm because I see in it a 
channel for the restoration of the unity of communities. Be- 
cause I am told that things have already happened which bear 
promise of this very thing. 

I was told what is said to be a typical story of a very fine 
lady, a woman of very fine natural parts, but very fastidious, 
whose automobile happened to be stalled one night in front 
of an open schoolhouse where a meeting was going on over 
which her seamstress was presiding. She was induced by some 
acquaintances of hers whom she saw going into the building, 
to go in, and was at first filled with disdain ; she didn't like the 



310 THE SOCIAL CENTER 

looks of some of the people, there was too much mixture of the 
sort she didn't care to associate with — an employe of her own 
was presiding — but she was obliged to stay a little while, it 
was the most comfortable place to stay while her automobile 
was repaired, and before she could get away she had been 
touched with the generous contagion of the place. Here were 
people of air sorts talking about things that were interesting, 
that revealed to her things that she had never dreamed of be- 
fore with regard to the vital common interests of persons whom 
she had always thought unlike herself, so that the community 
of the human heart was revealed to her, the singleness of human 
life. 

WORTH ANY EFFORT TO PROMOTE 

Now if this thing does that, it is worth any effort to pro- 
mote it. If it will do that, it is the means by which we shall 
create communities. And nothing else will produce liberty — 
you cannot have liberty where men do not want the same lib- 
erty, you cannot have it where they are not in sympathy with 
one another, you cannot have it where they do not understand 
one another, you cannot have it when they are not seeking 
common things by common means, you simply cannot have it; 
we must study the means by which these things are produced. 

In the first place, don't j^ou see that you produce communi- 
ties by creating common feeling? I know that a great em- 
phasis is put upon the mind, in our day, and as a university 
man I should perhaps not challenge the supremacy of the in- 
tellect, but I have never been convinced that mind was really 
monarch in our day, or in any day that I have yet read of, or, 
if it is monarch, it is one of the modern monarchs that rules 
and reigns but does not govern. 

MEANS TO LIBERAL EDUCATION 

I once made this statement, that a university was intended 
to make young people just as unlike their fathers as possible. 






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312 THE SOCIAL CENTER 

By which I do not mean anything disrespectful to their fathers, 
but merely this, by the time a man is old enough to have chil- 
dren in college, his point of view is apt to have become so 
specialized that they would better be taken away from him and 
put in a place where their views of life will be regeneralized 
and they will be disconnected from the family and connected 
with the world. That, I understand to be the function of edu- 
cation, of the liberal education. 

Now a kind of liberal education must underlie every whole- 
some political and social process, the kind of liberal education 
which connects a man's feeling and his comprehension with the 
general run of mankind, which disconnects him from the spe- 
cial interests and marries his thought to the common interests 
of great communities and of great cities and of great states 
and of great nations, and, if possible, with that brotherhood 
of man that transcends the boundaries of nations themselves. 

Those are the horizons to my mind of this social center 
movement, that they are going to unite the feelings and clarify 
the comprehension of communities, of bodies of men who draw 
together in conference. 

WILL MAKE EASIER SOLUTION OF GREAT PROBLEMS 

And so it seems to me that what is going to be produced 
by this movement, — not all at once, by slow and tedious stages, 
no doubt, but nevertheless very certainly in the end, — is in the 
first place a release of common forces now undiscovered, now 
somewhere banked up, and now somewhere unavailable, the 
removal of barriers to the common understanding, the opening 
of mind to mind, the clarification of the air and the release in 
that clarified air of forces that can live in it, and just so cer- 
tainly as you release those forces you make easier the funda- 
mental problem of modern society, which is the problem of 
accommodating the various interests in modern society to one 
another. 



THE SOCIAL CENTER 313 

FAITH IN PEOPLE JUSTIFIED 

I do not wonder that men are exhibiting an increased con- 
fidence in the judgments of the people, because wherever you 
give the people a chance such as this movement has given them 
in the schoolhouse, they avail themselves of it. This is not a 
false people, this is not a people guided by blind impulses, this 
is a people who want to think, who want to think right, whose 
feelings are based upon justice, whose instincts are for fairness 
and for the light. 

So what I see in this movement is a recovery of the con- 
structive and creative genius of the American people, because 
the American people as a people are so far different from 
others in being able to produce new things, to create new tilings 
out of old. 

THIS MOVEMENT FUNDAMENTALLY AMERICAN 

I have often thought that we overlook the fact that the real 
sources of strength in the community come from the bottom. 
Do you find society renewing itself from the top? Don't you 
find society renewing itself from the ranks of unknown men? 
Do you look to the leading families to go on leading you? Do 
you look to the ranks of the men already established in authority 
to contribute sons to lead the next generation? They may, 
sometimes they do, but you can't count on them; and what you 
are constantly depending on is the rise out of the ranks of un- 
known men, the discovery of men whom you had passed by, 
the sudden disclosure of capacity you had not dreamed of, the 
emergence of somebody from some place of which you had 
thought the least, of some man unanointed from on high, to 
do the thing that the generation calls for. Who would have 
looked to see Lincoln save a nation? Who that knew Lincoln 
when he was a lad and a youth and a young man — but all the 
while there was springing up in him as if he were connected 
with the very soil itself, the sap of a nation, the vision of a 



314 



THE SOCIAL CENTER 



great people, a sympathy so ingrained and intimate with the 
common run of men that he was like the People impersonated, 
sublimated, touched with genius. And it is to such sources 
that he must always look. 

No man can calculate the courses of genius, no man can 
foretell the leadership of nations. And so we must see to it 
that the bottom is left open, we must see to it that the soil of 
the common feeling of the common consciousness is always 
fertile and unclogged, for there can be no fruit unless the roots 
touch the rich sources of life. 

And it seems to me that the schoolhouses dotted here, there, 
and everywhere, over the great expanse of this nation, will 
some day prove to be the roots of that great tree of liberty 
which shall spread for the sustenance and protection of all 
mankind. 





CIGARETTE SMOKING 



BY WILLIAM A. MCKEEVER, M. A., PH. M., PROFESSOR OF PHILOS- 
OPHY IN KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



ONE of the greatest menaces to our moral and intellectual 
well-being today is the fact that cigarette smoking is 
becoming a popular fad among boys and young men. while the 
use of a strong pipe is a close second in favor. Go where you 
will in this broad land of ours, and the pale faces, blear eyes, 
trembling fingers and the foul stench of cigarette fumes tell 
the same pathetic story. This most serious blight upon the 
bloom and beauty of our American boyhood is chargeable to 
paternal ignorance and carelessness. For the past eight years 
I have been tracing out the cigarette boy's biography, and I 
have found that in practically all cases the lad began his smok- 
ing habit clandestinely, at an early age, and with little or no 
thought of its seriousness, while the fond parents perhaps be- 
lieved that their boy was too good to engage in such a practice. 



316 CIGARETTE SMOKING 

MANY GOOD MEN SMOKE 

It is not my purpose here to make an attack upon smoking 
in general. A majority of the best and ablest men of the coun- 
try are smokers, and they unquestionably get a good deal of 
satisfaction out of their cigars and pipes. After a man has 
fully acquired the habit, smoking tends to drive away depres- 
ison and to make him better satisfied with his lot and a more 
agreeable companion of men and women. By this I do not 
mean that the smoker has these advantages over the non- 
smoker, but rather that the former, through the re-indulgence 
of his habit, gets these results over and above what he has when 
he goes without his usual cigar. Out of one hundred such men 
whom I interviewed ninety-nine frankly admitted that smok- 
ing tends to injure the health and that they would not advise 
any young man to begin the habit. This practice is very offen- 
sive to many delicate natures, is somewhat filthy at its best, 
and disgustingly filthy at its worst, as the ordinary smoking- 
car will bear witness. Often, in public places, even refined 
women are forced to breathe the sickening fumes coming direct 
from the nostrils of some coarse, brutal cigarette smoker. 
Smoking is a practice entirely unnecessary to the development 
and refinement of the race, and it will in time doubtless go the 
way of the liquor-drinking habit. 

MOST HURTFUL IN CASE OF BOYS 

But the serious nature, and even the cruelty, of this smok- 
ing habit among men is at once apparent when we consider its 
influence and its effect upon boys. I have tabulated reports of 
the condition of nearly 2,500 cigarette-smoking school boys, 
and in describing them physically, my informants have repeat- 
edly resorted to the use of such epithets as "sallow," "sore- 
eyed," "puny," "squeaky-voiced," "sickly," "short-winded," 
and "extremely nervous." In my tabulated reports it is shown 



CIGARETTE SMOKING 317 

that, out of a group of twenty-five cases of young college stu- 
dents, smokers, whose average age of beginning was thirteen, 
according to their own admissions had suffered as fol- 
lows: Sore throat, four; weak eyes, ten; pain in chest, eight; 
"short-wind," twenty-one; stomach trouble, ten; pain in heart, 
nine. Ten of them appeared to be very sickly. The younger 
the boy, the worse the smoking hurts him in every way, for 
these lads almost invariably inhale the fumes; and that is the 
most injurious part of the practice. According to Dr. Sims 
Woodhead, professor of pathology in Cambridge University, 
cigarette smoking in the case of boys partly paralyzes the 
nerve cells at the base of the brain and thus interferes with the 
breathing and the heart action. And yet, all this debility and 
more, as will be shown later, is brought upon thousands of boys 
who innocently imitate the example of their elders. I am not 
quite ready to deny any mature man the right to smoke, but I 
am unwilling to concede him the right to permit his youthful 
son to take up the practice before maturity is reached. 

During the past year I have made hundreds of sphyg- 
mograph records of persons of various ages, conditions of 
health and temperament, about one hundred of these being 
boys and youths addicted to the smoking habit. The record 
reproduced herewith is a representative of its class. It might 
not be out of place to explain that the sphygmograph is 
an instrument with a clock-work-and-trigger mechanism, and 
that it is adjusted at the radial artery, the records being traced 
on a strip of smoked paper. This delicate instrument records 
very satisfactorily the comparative strength, regularity and 
nervousness of the heart beat. It will also show very quickly 
any changes in the heart movement resulting from either men- 
tal or physical stimuli. It may be said, too, that there is almost 
as much individuality in "heart writing" as there is in hand 
writing. But with the aid of this instrument it is an easy mat- 
ter to distinguish roughly between healthy and unhealthy con- 



.318 CIGARETTE SMOKING 

ditions. The discussion here will be confined to an attempt to 
throw additional light upon the nature and condition of the 
cigarette smoker. 

HOW THE SMOKER'S HEART IS AFFECTED 

There is much in illustrations like that opposite to war- 
rant the conclusion that the habitual cigarette smoker's heart is 
very weak and feeble, except for the few minutes during which 
he is indulging the habit, and that the pulsations at this time 
are unduly excited. The diagram shows three records each of 
two different subjects. Numbers I to III show the heart action 
of a young man nineteen years old who began smoking cigar- 
ettes at the age of fifteen, and who inhales the fumes. The 
three records were taken without removing or readjusting the 
instrument, as follows: No. 1, immediately before smoking, 
No. II during the indulgence of the habit, and No. Ill fifteen 
minutes later, after the narcotic effect had become apparent. 
Now, by reference to a normal diagram we may observe how 
this young man's heart should record itself, for the latter is a 
tracing of the heart pulsations of a young man of the same age 
and temperament. Nos. IV to VI, in the plate are representa- 
tive of another inhaler twenty years old, who began the practice 
at thirteen. He now uses a strong pipe. 

From the evidence at hand we are led to the conclusion 
that, in the case of boys and youths, cigarette smoking is very 
deleterious to the physical and mental well-being. Moreover, 
my investigations indicate that it makes very little difference 
in the effects whether the victim uses pipe or cigarettes, pro- 
vided he inhales the fumes ; and with few exceptions the young 
smokers are inhalers. The ordinary case exhibits about the 
following type of conduct: (l) While the craving is at its 
height the victim manifests much uneasiness and often much 
excitation. (2) During the indulgence the cheek is alter- 
nately flushed and blanched, the respiration considerably in- 



CIGARETTE SMOKING 



319 



creased, and the hands tremble. (3) About twenty minutes 
after smoking the muscles become relaxed, the respiration slow 
and shallow, the skin on the face dry and sallow, and there is 
an apparent feeling of unconcern about everything. 




RECOED OF A SMOKER 'S HEART ACTION 
(See Opposite Page) 



SMOKING A MOST SERIOUS OBSTACLE TO STUDENTSHIP 

The injurious effects of smoking upon the boy's mental 
activities are very marked. Of the many hundreds of tab- 
ulated cases in my possession, several of the very youthful 
ones have been reduced almost to the condition of imbeciles. 
Out of 2,336 who were attending public school, only six were 
reported "bright students." A very few, perhaps ten, were 
"average/' and all the remainder were "poor" or "worthless" 



320 CIGARETTE SMOKING 

students. The average grades of fifty smokers and fifty non- 
smokers were computed from the records of one term's work 
done in the Kansas Agricultural College, and the results fav- 
ored the latter group with a difference of 17.5 per cent. The 
two groups represented the same class rank; that is, the same 
number of seniors, juniors, sophomores, and freshmen. 

The ordinary cigarette-smoking student often has a very 
peculiar experience in his effort to prepare his daily lessons, 
about as follows: He goes to his room in the evening with 
the full intention of studying and opens his text-book, but a 
certain feeling of nervous uneasiness soon leads his hands auto- 
matically to roll and light a cigarette. He indulges the habit 
a few minutes when, presto, the lesson task which a while ago 
looked serious and urgent now appears trivial and unnecessary, 
and he accordingly neglects it. He is now affable and com- 
panionable, but the higher moral judgments have lost their 
value to him and he is now ready to yield to the evil sugges- 
tions of others. The partial brain paralysis resulting from the 
smoking makes the victim regard with indifference the most 
sacred promise he has ever made to anyone, and he is likely to 
violate it upon the slightest provocation. 

A study of the literature on the effects of smoking, years 
of medical examinations of boys and men, experience in teach- 
ing hygiene, and the results of this study, have led Dr. George 
H. Meylan of Columbia University to the following conclu- 
sions : 

1. All scientists are agreed that the use of tobacco by 
adolescents is injurious; parents, teachers and physicians should 
strive earnestly to warn youths against its use. 

2. There is no scientific evidence that the moderate use 
of tobacco by healthy, mature men, produces any beneficial or 
injurious physical effects that can be measured. 

3. There is an abundance of evidence that tobacco pro- 
duces injurious effects on (a) certain individuals suffering 



CIGARETTE SMOKING 321 

from various nervous affections; (b) persons with an idiosyn- 
crasy against tobacco; (c) all persons who use it excessively. 
4. It has been shown conclusively in this study and also 
by others that the use of tobacco by college students is closely 
associated with idleness, lack of ambition, lack of application, 
and low scholarship. 

PREVENTION THE PRACTICAL SOLUTION 

Prevention is the only practical solution of this cigarette 
or boy-smoking question. Boys take up the practice in inno- 
cence, "just for fun," and are usually its victims before the 
matter is detected by their parents. Any normal, healthy boy 
will learn to smoke if thrown among young smokers without 
any caution or restraints from those in authority over him. 
After the parent discovers the fault there is often a pathetic 
struggle, perhaps attended by many maternal tears, and then 
a compromise. That is, the boy tries in vain to quit and finally 
agrees to compromise on a pipe. But he will likely violate 
every rule of good conduct ever taught him by his parents be- 
fore he will give up the habit entirely. All his best mental 
attitudes and disposition now come to him as a result of his 
smoking, and the converse is true whenever he attempts to quit. 

But parents must learn more about the nature of this in- 
sidious habit and prevent its being taken up. The following 
methods of prevention have been reported effective: (1) Be- 
gin to talk to the boy as early as his sixth or seventh year 
about the matter and make a strong appeal to his sense of 
honor. Do not be too insistent and threaten to inflict punish- 
ments, but indicate rather that you think him too worthy to 
take up such a practice. (2) Offer to set aside some material 
or pecuniary reward to be paid when he becomes of age, pro- 
vided he continues his total abstinence, and add to this the 
sentiment that he may then do as he pleases. Never ask a boy 
to pledge away in advance the years of his manhood. (3) 



322 CIGARETTE SMOKING 

Remind the boy in every possible way how much concern you 
have for his well-being, and how much you are willing to sacri- 
fice for him, and how anxious you are to be true to him and to 
help him. He will then likely never break faith with you. 
(4) Keep in touch with the boy and know at all times his joys 
and hopes and aspirations. Be his companion and advisor and 
true friend and he will respect your wishes in regard to him. 

It is the misfortune of most boys and some girls to be mis- 
understood by their parents. There is no nobler and more 
praiseworthy service to be performed by parents than that of 
presenting to the world the rare gift of well-born, well-reared 
sons and daughters. Let all parents study their children more 
and learn to be their exemplars and boon companions, and 
humanity will receive a great benefit as a result. There is 
latent within the ordinary boy much that is clean and ennobling 
and inspiring. Find it, fond parent, and bring it to realiza- 
tion, and you will live to see the day when a Beneficent Provi- 
dence will reward you richly for all the care and painstaking 
it involves. 



Prof. McKeever is the author of an excellent series of Home Bulletins on this 
and kindred subjects, which may be obtained by addressing him at Manhattan, 
Kansas. The only charge is 2 cents per copy to cover postage. 




WORK AND SAVING 

BY WILLIAM A. MCKEEVER, M. A., PH. M. ? PROFESSOR OF PHILOS- 
OPHY IN THE KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

THERE is no good reason why any ordinary boy should 
not be taught to work and to save and finally to have a 
small bank account of his own, provided he be given reason- 
able instruction in regard to the matter. Moreover, this in- 
struction will prove in the end to be as profitable in every sense 
as that given on any other conceivable subject, for it will be- 
come a great moral force. 

As the boy grows toward maturity he must be aided in 
finding w T ork suitable to his age. An easy, quick method of 
earning money is likely to demoralize him, rendering him dis- 
satisfied with a reasonable reward for what he does. Many a 
boy of ten or twelve years is spoiled for life as the result of 
having served as a page in some legislative body at $3 per day 
while, as a matter of fact, he w r as not earning more than thirty 



324 WORK AND SAVING 

cents per day. Rather let the work required of the growing 
boy be somewhat rough and health-giving, and then pay him 
little more than you would any other boy for performing the 
same service. Practical, business-like methods are advisable in 
all such cases. 

Boys living in town and city are reported to be earning 
small sums in various ways, both within and outside of the 
home; as, sawing wood, tending gardens and furnaces, taking 
care of live stock and business offices, cleaning windows, selling 
milk, papers, and novelties, working on farms during vacation. 
Let the work be difficult while it lasts, but avoid placing the 
boy to work in the midst of evil influences. 

It is, of course, easy to find work for the country boy, but 
many farmers fail to give their sons an opportunity to receive 
a money reward for a part of what they do. The ordinary 
growing boy should not be required to be wholly self-support- 
ing, even on the farm. The best rule reported to us is in sub- 
stance this: Start the boy by giving him a small plot of 
ground to tend, either in the field or the garden; or, give him 
in exchange for some service a domestic animal, such as a pig 
or a calf. In any such case direct him carefully and allow him 
only a reasonable share of the profits. A certain farmer, a 
somewhat typical case of error, gave his twelve-year-old son a 
runty calf. The latter cared for the unpromising animal with 
much interest and enjoyed many happy moments thinking 
how he would finally spend the money thus earned. In three 
years the runty calf grew into a fat steer and brought $60 on 
the market, but the misguided father kept the money and put 
the boy off with another calf. Some years later he wondered 
why his son should persist in leaving the farm for an untried 
field of activity. How much better to have given the boy the 
$60 so faithfully earned and to have guided him judiciously in 
the use of it. It is a serious blow to a boy's moral character to 
have his own father's honesty thus brought into question. 



WORK AND SAVING 325 

A most sensible statement, written by a thoughtful, ju- 
dicious father, follows: "I always try to teach my children 
that the place to begin in any enterprise is at the bottom, then 
climb. Last spring my twelve-year-old boy expressed a desire 
to try to make some money raising chickens, and he asked per- 
mission to take full control of the flock. But he was practi- 
cally without experience, so I suggested that he begin on a 
small scale and prove his ability first. I finally agreed that he 
should see how many he could raise from two settings of eggs. 
The result was he got twenty-six chicks and sold them on the 
market for $7.97. This sum formed the nucleus of a bank 
account which in a short time has grown to $12. Now, I shall 
use my influence toward helping him to keep that account 
growing, be it ever so slow." 

HELP THE BOY TO OPEN A SAVINGS ACCOUNT 

After he has been taught to work and to earn money hon- 
estly, then it is all-important that the boy be instructed care- 
fully in the matter of saving. Many can earn, but few can 
save. The evidence goes to show that a bank or trust company, 
usually local, furnishes the most common and satisfactory 
means of saving. The relation of these institutions to the boy 
depositor is almost always one of helpfulness and encourage- 
ment. It matters not how little the lad may be earning, see 
that he saves a portion of it. Give him a toy bank at first, and 
as soon as he has accumulated a half-dollar or more have it 
placed to his credit in a bank of deposit. Develop his interest 
in the matter by talking to him and by taking him to the bank 
with you, where he may see the papers made out. On the 
writing stand in the bank will be found deposit slips. In the 
proper blank spaces on one of these write the date, the boy's 
name, and the amount to be deposited. Hand the slip to the 
teller and he will do the rest. Try to develop in the young 
financier's mind some reasonable purpose for which this money 



326 WORK AND SAVING 

is being saved, and lead him by degrees to have fond anticipa- 
tions of its final use. When practicable, have the boy's savings 
deposited in an institution that allows interest on sueh accounts, 
explaining to him just how money grows when bearing inter- 
est. Some banking institutions will offer as an investment 
small interest-bearing securities, sometimes netting the pur- 
chaser as high as five per cent or more. 

OTHER MEANS OF SAVING 

In the home town or city there is often a loeal building and 
savings association in which a share can be secured for the boy. 
Fifty to sixty cents paid in monthly will, at the end of about 
ten years, amount to $100. One judicious father who is fol- 
lowing this plan reports: "This is a splendid thing. As a 
result of watching this account grow my children have learned 
much about the practical uses of money." Let the parent in- 
vestigate this means of saving. 

Running at will upon the streets and into the stores is the 
boy's first step on the road to financial recklessness. "Give 
him, say, a quarter and send him to the store to spend a stated 
part of it with the understanding that he is to return with the 
balance." Do not be too close with him. A growing boy 
should be permitted to indulge that "sweet taste" reasonably 
often, but on some occasions he must be argued into passing 
the attractive shop or store without yielding to his desire to 
spend. Much urging and explaining may be required at iirst, 
but in time he will learn to carry his own money and to spend 
a part of it reflectively while he is holding back a certain por- 
tion to place in bis savings account. The youth that can do 
I his is well on the road io financial integrity, and his moral 
strength and self-respect are also much enhanced. 

A SAVINGS ACCOUNT AT SCHOOL 

Without doing much extra work teachers and principals 
of schools may institute and manage pupils' savings accounts 



WORK AND SAVING 327 

in about the following manner: Let the children bring their 
pennies and nickels and deposit them in a general fund. In a 
book suitable for the purpose write the names alphabetically 
and keep each personal account separate. An advanced pupil 
may be trained to keep the records. By means of short talks 
and explanations the teacher may develop an interest in this 
matter of saving, but care should be exercised against undue 
excitement and rivalry. For this reason it is considered in- 
advisable to read off the accounts before the members of the 
school. No true banker would treat his depositors in any such 
way. There will necessarily be a wide difference of pupils in 
their ability to accumulate, owing to variations in home condi- 
tions. So, avoid making any comparisons that will tend either 
to offend or discourage, and do not hold up to public con- 
demnation any pupils who may not be patronizing the school 
bank. 

The money taken in should be deposited in a sound local 
bank, the child drawing an order on the teacher when he desires 
to obtain his money. The school board may be willing to pay 
for printing the deposit slips and check blanks, thus aiding 
the cause not a little. When practicable, the accumulations 
of the pupils may be placed in a savings institution that will 
allow a small rate of interest. This advantage might at least 
be offered to all who will deposit their account for six months 
or more. In every case where the teacher deposits the money 
in his own name, he should be securely bonded. 

Those who have had experience with this school-savings 
affair report that it is very necessary to enlist the cooperation 
of the parents. Every child which is being taught to save 
should be aided in the matter of planning to spend his money 
for some worthy purpose, although this purpose may fre- 
quently be changed as the child and the account grow. In 
order to accomplish all this work with the minimum of inter- 
ference with other school duties, it may be found advisable to 



328 WORK AND SAVING 

have a "banking day," say Monday or Friday at the close of 
the afternoon session. 

TEACH THE BOY TO SPEND JUDICIOUSLY 

By degrees, as suggested above, the boy acquires sufficient 
self -resistance to enable him to return from the store with some 
money in his pocket. This is his first step in wise expenditure, 
for it is certainly indicative that he is proceeding thoughtfully. 
One father inculcates this first lesson by giving his young son 
the usual weekly allowance only on condition that he has kept 
and saved for his bank account a stated portion of the sum 
received the preceding week. Try paying your eight-year-old 
boy, say forty cents each Monday morning for the perform- 
ance of certain reasonable home tasks, with the specific ar- 
rangement that he may spend fifteen cents of it as he pleases 
while the remaining twenty-five cents is to be brought back 
Saturday evening either to go into his savings account or to be 
invested under your direction. 

Explain to your children the source of your own income 
(if you are not ashamed of it) and the fact that there is a 
limit to the ordinary bank account. Many children believe that 
you simply have to go to the bank and ask for it in order to 
obtain money. Talk over occasionally with the boy the family 
expense account, especially that relating to himself, with now 
and then an expression of the pleasure you take in planning 
and working and spending for him so long as he is worthy of 
it. Take him with you on your shopping errands once in a 
while and give him some practical lessons in spending ju- 
diciously. Thus he will gradually grow reasonable and sym- 
pathetic in regard to the family budget and amply considerate 
of the way in which his own money should be used. 

PRACTICAL LESSONS IN GIVING 

In the course of all this instruction, guard with care against 
miserliness. The ultimate aim of his teaching is not that of 



WORK AND SAVING 329 

qualifying the coming man to accumulate wealth, but is that of 
developing to youth moral self-reliance and an otherwise effi- 
cient personality. Then, he will naturally become initiated 
into a successful business career. The man who is provident 
and careful in husbanding his resources has a great advantage 
over his financially incompetent neighbor in such matters as 
true kindliness, rational generosity, and high spirituality. So, 
teach the child from the beginning some little acts of altruism. 
What he has is not to be regarded as existing for his own sake 
so much as for the sake of what he can achieve with it by way 
of making the world a worthier place of habitation. Doubtless 
every ordinary parent believes in some such good thing as 
the Sunday-school, the benevolent society, and the charity and 
relief associations. One or more of these will offer an oppor- 
tunity for training the boy to give his mite systematically to 
a worthy purpose. Reason with him gently and enlist his 
interest in buying a present occasionally for another member 
of the family, or for some deserving person outside of the 
home circle. Remember, however, that over-generosity is one 
of the characteristic follies of the spendthrift. 




REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 



BY WILLIAM A. MCKEEVER, PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE 
KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



1 i The greatest evil of today is the incompetency, ignorance of parents, and it is 
because of the evil that others exist/' says Mrs. Theodore W. Birney, Founder of 
the National Congress of Mothers. 

THIS is a great age for the breeding of thoroughbred 
horses, hogs and cattle, but not especially an age for the 
improvement of the race of men. If an ordinary farmer 
chances to have a horse that balks in the harness or a cow that 
runs off the reservation he needs only to write to the nearest 
government experiment station in order to secure, free of cost, 
a carefully prepared bulletin on the subject, and perhaps along 
with it a helpful letter from a high-salaried expert. But if the 
refractory creature chances to be his 16-year-old son or his 



332 REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 

fledgling daughter, the perplexed ruralist must fight out the 
case alone, or aided only by a despairing wife. 

Underlying all complex work of child rearing is a well- 
developed science, psychology, which ought to be required in 
an elementary form in all secondary school courses. Later, 
every prospective parent should be required to take a thorough 
course of training in the psychology of child development. 
Such a training will, in my opinion, do more to save the boys 
and girls, and the whole country, than any other discipline 
that can be offered. If the various women's clubs would de- 
vote one-half the time they give to the study of Shakespeare 
and Browning to the pursuit of a well-planned course in child 
psychology the results in behalf of the growing generation 
would be well-nigh sensational. 

AN OUTLINE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION 

We want a better race of men and women, and in order to 
bring such a thing about we must produce a better crop of 
boys and girls. However, as yet the scientists have worked 
out no complete set of laws or rules governing the matter of 
improving the human race through better breeding. It is en- 
couraging to know that there is much research work being un- 
dertaken just now that will in time prove exceedingly helpful. 
So, while we are waiting for the scientists to bring forward 
their sounder principles there are a few rules of psychology 
and pedagogy that can be safely adhered to in giving eugenic 
instruction of an elementary nature to the young. 

Therefore, in order to give the many thousands of willing 
parents and teachers a more definite scheme of carrying out 
the good intentions they already possess, the methods of pro- 
cedure below are suggested. Let all who are interested in 
bringing about an improvement of the race through the edu- 
cation of public sentiment join hands in this cause and thus 
protect the unquestioned rights of the generations yet unborn. 



REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 333 

EUGENIC INSTRUCTION PREPARATORY FOR MARRIAGE 

1. Inculcate in the young early the sentiment that the mar- 
riage of persons infected with any form of tuberculosis is ex- 
tremely inadvisable, such a marriage being almost certain to 
lead to consequences that will multiply the sorrows of the 
two persons first concerned and transmit disease and pre- 
mature death to many of their posterity. While the latest 
conclusions of science indicate that this "white plague" is not 
directly inherited, the offspring of tuberculous parents seem 
to show a heightened susceptibility to the disease. Moreover, 
even if the factor of inheritance be not considered, there is 
still left to the child of the parent so diseased the fatal pos- 
sibilities of infection. 

2. Discourage in like manner the thought of marriage of 
a person born with any physical abnormality. While some 
such marks may be mere life-time acquisitions, many of them 
are outward expressions of deep-seated, congenital defects. 
Their reappearance in the offspring is therefore highly prob- 
able. Such defects constitute a more or less serious menace to 
success in life, and therefore a degree of unfitness for marriage. 

3. Call for the same careful consideration in reference to 
epileptics, describing to children and youths just what this 
disease is like, citing as an illustration the numbers who now 
fill up the epileptic wards of asylums. Inculcate the most 
kindly and sympathetic regard for any one who may be a 
victim of this disease, but at the same time make it plain that 
those afflicted w 7 ith it, especially in its incurable forms, are 
not fit to have a part in the continuance of the race. 

4. There are many among us who have inherited an un- 
certain degree of the taint of insanity or imbecility, or at 
least who are members of families that have been transmitting 
these diseases for many generations. Young men and young 
women can be made aware of such facts as these so that they 



834 REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 

will very naturally shrink, when maturity is reached, from 
forming life companionships with such persons. The records 
of many cases show no instances of a mentally normal child 
horn of parents both weak minded. On the other hand, there 
have been many imbecile children born of parents only one of 
whom was so affected. The children of the insane are not 
necessarily doomed to such a fate, but there is now a widely 
accepted theory that they inherit certain brain structures that 
tend to give way under conditions inducing insanity more 
readily than in case of normal persons. 

5. While it has not been proved that inebriety is directly 
transmissible, two adverse conclusions concerning drunkards 
have been definitely reached. 

(a) Once a young man becomes addicted to the habit of 
drinking intoxicants, he will contend very strongly to keep it 
up or go back to the habit even after a long period of absti- 
nence. Teachers and parents of young girls should have at 
hand a long list of instances of young women who have mar- 
ried young men addicted to the drinking habit, misguided by 
the fond belief that the latter had permanently discontinued 
the practice. The records of the majority of such cases will 
prove beyond a doubt that the undertaking was fraught with 
terrible consequences of sorrow and suffering. 

(b) Although it is now apparent that the appetite for 
drink is directly inherited, there is a vast amount of evidence 
to show that the children of the inebriate have some tendencies 
to a weakened body, low vitality, and probably an unusual 
inner craving for something that will stimulate. A thoughtful 
teacher or parent can easily find concrete examples upon which 
to base instruction that will help to eliminate the inebriate as 
a factor in the race. 

0. The earth is becoming, or is destined to become not 
long hence, very densely populated. In every part of the 
world we now find the people consuming their bread fresh 



HEARING BOYS AND GIRLS 335 

from the fields. In the opinion of some of the greatest living 
students of agrarian subjects the problem of bread produc- 
tion has already become the great problem of the race. It 
is serious to think that in time the law obtaining in the animal 
world, viz., the law of struggle for food and the final survival 
of the physically fittest, may become prevalent among men. 

Hence, the apparent necessity of breeding a race of bread 
winners, and the further necessity of teaching young women 
anticipating marriage how to recognize in young men the marks 
of industry and frugality. In the same careful and practical 
way, young men may be taught early how to recognize in young 
women the traits of character that are most potent in promise 
of conservative home-keeping. 

7. Extensive inquiries of the present day tend to show that 
there is little or no direct inheritance of criminality. The most 
conservative students of the matter claim to be able to show 
that not less than ninety per cent of the children born to crim- 
inal parents are at birth free from any unusual predisposition 
toward criminal acts. But criminal conduct is both positive 
and negative in character. That is, it may be deliberate and 
premeditated, or it may be a result of yielding to temptation. 
There is some evidence to warrant the conclusion that a con- 
genital weakness of the latter kind may be transmitted from 
parent to child. At least, in view of the present knowledge 
about this matter, society seems entitled to the benefit of a 
doubt. So, the marriage of any normal person known to be of 
marked criminal lineage should be actively discouraged. 

DRINKING AND SMOKING 

The uses of alcohol, tobacco, and other stimulants, nar- 
cotics and irritants are to be regarded as more or less serious 
menaces to the well-being of the race, even if we admit that 
the appetite for none of them is inherited. Alcoholism is being 
gradually driven out of the United States. It can not endure 



336 REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 

the higher tests of our modern civilization. In some states 
teachers are required to instruct pupils in regard to the hurt- 
ful nature of alcoholic stimulants. Such laws should be made 
general. 

There is coming a time when the tobacco using practice 
must pass a test of utility and fitness or else yield its place. 
This is today the most general and the most overmastering of 
all racial habits. So strong it is, in the case of thousands of 
men, that its demands for satisfaction take precedence over 
the demands of the family for bread. That the tobacco-using 
habit is highly destructive to the mental, moral and physical 
efficiency of boys has been proved beyond question. That it, 
in its net results, is beneficial to men has not yet been shown. 
That the enormous amount of capital and labor and land now 
devoted to the tobacco industry might better be devoted to the 
production of bread for the hungry millions seems to admit of 
no room for debate. 

To prevent boys and youths from beginning the use of 
alcohol and tobacco is a comparatively easy matter, provided 
known methods be applied. To break up the fully acquired 
habits of such use is, in most cases, a practical impossibility. 
Therefore, it is strongly recommended that all interested per- 
sons exert their efforts in behalf of prevention. Furnish 
parents and teachers with detailed methods of instructing and 
training the young to abstain from the foregoing evils and the 
race will soon reap the reward. 

Children may have much better instruction in reference to 
self-support, a form of training which has its foundation in 
carefully planned work. Idleness is a kind of disease. The 
hungry soon take on many of the marks of degeneracy. There 
can, with a little thought, be made out a reasonable schedule of 
work and study and play for the growing boy of any ordinary 
age and condition, a provision which will tend all along to fit 
him for his permanent life work. But mere training after a 



BEARING BOYS AND GIBLS 337 

plan is not sufficient. The youth must be talked to about the 
matter of a life work — not urged or required to choose early, 
perhaps not till after full physical and mental maturity, but 
talked to with a thought of imbuing him with the necessity of 
gradually finding and working out for himself a plan for his 
mature life. 

The ability of the individual to perform some kind of work 
creditably or to manage some one of the important affairs of 
life successfully lies at the foundation of all that is best and 
most stable in our modern society. Unquestionably every nor- 
mal boy and girl is very well fitted by nature and can be still 
better fitted by training to perform worthily some kind of 
work. Then, let parents and teachers begin early to make a 
careful study of the boys and girls under their charge with a 
view of training them in habits of industry, and finally with a 
view to guiding them successfully into the vocation for which 
they are best adapted by nature. 



TRAINING THE BOY TO WORK 

Underlying all that is good and substantial in our present 
civilization is the spirit of work and of industry, which we hope 
long to preserve as a distinguishing characteristic of the Ameri- 
can people. But if our splendid democracy is to be maintained 
and improved we must now continue more than ever to train 
the young of both sexes among the ranks of the workers. Such 
training must be begun early and persistently held to until the 
youth has acquired the habit of industry, the power of initiative 
and that splendid resourcefulness of character out of which em- 
pires were once built. 

Recent scientific research tends to show very conclusively 
that men are not natural-born criminals but that many are made 
such by bad environment. Statistics have also proved that 



338 REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 

many criminals "higher up" are graduates of the old classical 
colleges. But it is the hope of the present age to train every 
growing boy so thoroughly in some form of industry that he 
will always find it easier and more pleasurable to earn an honest 
living than to cheat his fellow-man, or prey upon society for a 
livelihood. No matter what the future profession is to be, and 
no matter how much classical knowledge is to be sought in the 
schools, modern conditions are most certainly laying obstacles 
in the pathway of the man who has not early in life thoroughly 
acquired the ability to work with his own hands. "I taught my 
boys to believe that every successful career begins with a course 
of training in something like dirt-shoveling or rock-hauling," 
said a father of three worthy grown-up sons. 

THE NEW CULTURE 

An emphatic warning needs to be sounded in the ears of 
many well-meaning parents who have failed to catch the new 
spirit of the times, who are still attempting to train their grow- 
ing boys away from the best and newest form of culture that 
our modern civilization demands. Perhaps the chief fault of 
many well-to-do fathers in the treatment of their sons is that 
of attempting to find for the latter too easy a road to success. 
Such is especially true of those city fathers whose 14-year-old 
sons may be seen almost any week day during the vacation 
dressed in Sunday clothes and doing little or nothing of dis- 
ciplinary and character-building value. 

But the new ideal of culture leads through an entirely dif- 
ferent field of activity — a field of work, of industry and a final 
specialization in some form of the world's constructive enter- 
prises. Only a short while ago we were educating a few special 
classes for the so-called learned professions and leaving the 
masses to look out for themselves. Now we are attempting to 
serve all interests alike, to exalt work and workers, to inculcate 
the cultural aspect of all worthy industrial pursuits. 



REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 339 

Time will prove therefore that the fathers who are endeavor- 
ing in the old-fashioned way to give their growing boys culture 
for its own sake, or to lead them over an easy, non-industrial 
way to a position of superiority of rank and influence over the 
"common crowd" and comparative freedom from hard work and 
drudgery — time will most probably reveal the fact that such 
methods no longer furnish adequate preparation for leadership 
and efficiency. 

So the old scheme of training for life is now becoming a 
thing of the past, the new idea being that a complete education 
does not mean freedom from the responsibility of work but 
rather a greater capacity for work and for the service of 
society. We are slowly discovering the momentous fact that 
true contentment during mature life and declining years can, 
as a rule, be hoped for only in case of the person whose earlier 
career has been one of worthy work and endeavor in some 
honorable life position. 

GREAT VARIATION IN METHOD 

All the way from Denver to Boston and back again the 
author has made inquiry of parents regarding this important 
question of industrial training of the young. While the in- 
terest in the matter was found to be very great a lack of specific 
knowledge of method was also apparent. Although we have 
worked out for the teachers in the schools a schedule of intel- 
lectual duties for the various grades and ages, we have failed 
entirely thus far to perform any such service for parents who 
wish to train their children to work. So the question is being 
asked on all sides: When do you begin to train the boy to 
work? and, How much do you require of him at any given age? 

PATIENCE AND PERSISTENCE REQUIRED 

It is a long road from the idleness and savagery of primitive 
man to the sobriety and steadiness of purpose of the modern 



340 REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 

captain of industry. Great patience and persistence are there- 
fore usually required in case of one who would successfully give 
this industrial training to juveniles; for it is in large measure 
true that the boy begins life as a sort of savage. Therefore, do 
not expect him as a rule to take up fondly and willingly the tasks 
you lay out for him. The author has little patience with the 
theory, all too prevalent today, that twelve-year-old boys can be 
successfully taught to work by the kindergarten method; that is, 
by giving them only the tasks which they will regard as play. 
On the other hand, light work of a suitable nature should be laid 
out as a strict requirement for the boy. Then someone should 
stay by him for days — or for weeks and months if need be — 
until he has acquired readiness, habit and facility in its perform- 
ance. Many give up too soon, preferring rather to do the work 
themselves than to be bothered with holding the boy to it. Thus 
they permit him to win his first step toward a career of idle- 
ness. After that it will be easier for him and harder for his 
trainer. 

Five years of age is not too young to require some light chore 
daily of the ordinary healthy boy. If, for example, he be held 
to the small duty of carrying in an armful of kindling or of 
bringing a quart of milk from a neighbor's house, the discipli- 
nary value of the requirement is very great. He is thereby 
started on the way to a career of industry and true culture. 
After this beginning has been made the thoughtful parent will 
year by year add a small amount to the required tasks, always 
tli inking more of the boy's discipline than the money value of 
the work, so that when maturity is reached the youth will have 
become so gradually and thoroughly imbued with the habit of 
industry as not to remember when and how the result was 
brought about. While it is always better to give the boy some 
task of which he can see the purpose and meaning and which 
appeals to his interest and intelligence, as a last resort, and 



REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 341 

rather than allow him to grow up in idleness, some kind of 
work should be mechanically invented for him. 

PLEASURE IN WORK 

It seems difficult for many parents to realize the necessity 
of holding their boys to the performance of some arduous 
tasks in order that the latter may finally acquire self-reliance 
and adaptability in meeting the changing situations of life. 
Many parents also forget how they acquired the joy which 
they now experience in their work. Yet the zeal and buoyancy 
of spirit with which the average healthy-minded, well-trained 
man meets his ordinary day's work is a thing most inspiring. 
It is just this peculiar sense of inner worth and contentment 
that makes the life of the successful person seem most worth 
while. It is indeed at once the secret spring which keeps the 
great industry of the world ever going and which furnishes 
a balance wheel to the worthiest members of our common 
society. 

THE JOY OF SERVICE 

Finally, the growing boy must be so carefully introduced 
to his life employment that he shall not only find great joy 
in the pursuit of his occupation, but that he shall also have per- 
sonal knowledge of service and sacrifice in behalf of others. 
The life of a young man, no matter what his rank may be, 
cannot be complete until he has learned this splendid lesson 
of devoting at least a small part of his well-trained thought 
and energy to the uplift of some particular class of his fellow- 
men. In order, therefore, to avoid the extreme selfishness 
which we now see present in many of the present-day money- 
makers, train the boy from beginning in the habit of per- 
forming at least some work from which he is to receive only 
the reward of gratitude and afFectionate regard from those 
whom he may help and serve. 



312 REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 

CHOICE OF A VOCATION 

The country abounds in men and women who, in the prac- 
tical sense of the word, are failures in life, and that chiefly be- 
cause of the fact that they are attempting to occupy a position 
for which they were never fitted either by natural disposition 
or training. Much of the unhappiness and discontent and not 
a little of the crime of our society are directly traceable to 
one cause, namely, that we as yet have no scientific knowledge 
of how to discover the highest aptitudes latent in the growing 
young, or of the surest means of giving these aptitudes ex- 
pression in the vocational life. Then, to put the matter in 
form of questions : ( 1 ) How can we ascertain with certainty 
what the youth is best fitted for by nature? and (2) How can 
we best prepare him for this vocation? 

WORK IS THE FOUNDATION STONE 

If in planning the son's vocation the parents will begin 
early and lay a solid foundation in hard work and plenty of 
it, together with an ample amount of play and recreation to 
make a nicely balanced time schedule, the task of guiding the 
boy into a successful career will become much easier. If, 
moreover, during this period of training in work the boy be 
allowed to hear less said about the possibilities of his securing 
a position of ease and superiority of advantage and more about 
the necessity of his beginning at the bottom and climbing up- 
ward by means of his own worthy efforts, the foregoing prob- 
lem will be rendered still easier of solution. There is always 
a steady demand throughout the country for young men of 
muscle and moral courage — young men developed in habits of 
persistent work as well as in the schools — who will lay off their 
coats and accept places in the mammoth enterprise of develop- 
ing and carrying forward the world's many industries. 

We are living in an age remarkable for its rapid recon- 
struction of all our industrial affairs. The so-called learned 



REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 343 

professions, once sought as matters of course by all young men 
aspiring to become "gentlemen and scholars," are now wan- 
ing in significance before the many splendid vocations open to 
the well-educated young captains of industry. The present- 
day problem of reclaiming vast areas of desert and waste land, 
of introducing and promoting new methods of crop and ani- 
mal production, of reorganizing or developing anew many 
commercial enterprises, of manufacturing the thousands of 
machines and other pieces of apparatus demanded for carry- 
ing on the world's business — all these and numerous other 
affairs of their kind are constantly calling for young men 
trained in head and hand and heart to keep them going. 
Scholarly farmers and stock raisers and carpenters and iron 
workers and engineers' assistants, and the like, are what our 
industrial age is in need of, and it is high time that parents 
view this situation aright and prepare their sons to meet it. 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S VIEW OF INDUSTRY 

In a message to Congress President Roosevelt expressed 
this sound doctrine: 

"The calling of the skilled tiller of the soil, the calling of 
the skilled mechanic, should alike be recognized as professions 
just as emphatically as the callings of lawyer, doctor, mer- 
chant, or clerk. The schools should recognize this fact and it 
should be equally recognized in popular opinion. The young 
man who has the farsightedness and courage to recognize it and 
to get over the idea that it makes a difference whether what he 
earns is called salary or wages, and who refuses to enter the 
crowded field of the so-called learned professions, and takes 
to constructive industry instead, is reasonably sure of an ample 
reward in earnings, health, in opportunity to marry early, and 
to establish a home with a fair amount of freedom from 
worry." 

So, the old, aristocratic definition of culture as "something 



344 REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 

every gentleman should know" has been superseded in this 
country by one which includes among other things the per- 
sonal knowledge of how to perform persistently and effect- 
ively some kind of practical work. And such culture makes 
life seem worth while, for it gives one a sense of power over 
the obstacles that would beset his way. 

MORAL TRAINING AND THE VOCATION 

Every healthy boy inclines at times to be rough, nonsen- 
sical, boisterous, pugnacious, and predatory. He also ex- 
periences the impulse to run away from home and live — as 
he thinks — a wild, free life, and later he expects to find a 
short, unearned way to success and wealth. These are all 
perfectly normal responses to inner developments and rep- 
resent necessary periods of transition from lower to higher 
forms of conduct. A little safe-guarding and directing 
brings the boy through them safe and sound. But there are 
certain youthful practices that quickly work themselves into 
the nervous system in form of fixed, persistent habit — habits 
that are certain to interfere somewhat, and perhaps very seri- 
ously, with the boy's future vocational success. Most prom- 
inent among these insidious habits are the use of tobacco, of 
intoxicants, and sexual perversion. These three often go to- 
gether, but any one of them consumes the finer moral dispo- 
sitions and strikes at the very root of business integrity. The 
parents of a boy who is addicted to one of these habits may 
well feel concern as to the future outcome. 

THE BOY MUST LEARN TO THINK 

During the process of his training in work and for a voca- 
tion the boy should be taught to think for himself. "Despite 
the fact that our age is one of unexampled scientific and in- 
dustrial progress," says President Nicholas Murray Butler, 
"yet nothing in our modern scientific activity is more striking 



REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 345 

than the undisputed primacy of thought — thought not in an- 
tagonism of sense, but interpretive of the data of sense." 
Then, it is well to teach the boy not only to think but also to 
have regard for the higher aspect of his work or vocation. As 
the true physician does not practice primarily for his fee, so 
the highest type of industrial wage-earner does not work with 
the mere idea of receiving a money reward for his labo: ; but 
he is concerned chiefly with carrying out a plan of life for 
himself and those dependent upon him. The wages furnish 
the means whereby this ideal is made possible of realization. 
"We must combat the idea that men are in business as the 
phrase goes, merely to make money," says Dr. Felix Adler. 
It will be generally agreed by all students of our in- 
dustrial conditions that the secret of the rise of the ordinary 
wage-earner to a position of higher responsibility lies in the 
fact of his being able to think persistently and to formulate 
for himself an ideal toward which his best effort is to be con- 
stantly directed. But this ideal in the mind of the young in- 
dustrialist is a growth — a tiling that develops and reshapes 
itself in relation to all his experience and training. He must 
be talked to much on the subject of his life plans and purposes, 
even though they may be of a juvenile character, and at 
length he will become thoroughly imbued with a clear, prac- 
tical ideal, so dynamic in its nature that its realization is 
merely the operation of one of the great and admirable laws 
of the human mind. In a case of this kind the young worker 
will gradually learn to feel that his life is in a certain sense 
divinely ordered, for it will offer a satisfactory response to 
his higher aspirations; and thereafter he will tend to become a 
splendid moral force in his home environment. "The trained 
mind quickly discovers itself in a certain skill of execution, 
a certain air of mastery, a certain manner of self-confidence, 
and, especially, a certain pleasure of performance." 



346 REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 

FINANCIAL BACKING TOO EARLY 

The country is strewn with the wrecks of men whose 
parents started them in some business for which they had no 
adequate training or instinctive fondness. As a result of this 
error of well-meaning but over-anxious parents the father is 
usually forced to perform the part of a receiver and take over 
both the business and the boy himself. As a final outcome 
of such a blunder the young man tends to lose his self-con- 
fidence and his self-respect as well. All thoughtful advisers 
will say, let the boy have ample time to prove both his ability 
and his enthusiastic interest in a vocation of his own choice be- 
fore backing him financially in a business enterprise, and 
then assist him to the extent that your means and good judg- 
ment will allow. Consider w r ell your course before depriving 
him of the undoubted satisfaction of having started himself in 
business without any assistance financially. 

OBSERVE CLOSELY THE BOY's DEVELOPMENT 

No two children are exactly alike even in infancy, and in 
any given case the difference in the elements of what we call 
character tends to increase and to become more pronounced 
as the stage of development continues. Indeed, there is 
finally displayed among growing children as great a variety 
of interest and aptitude as there are places in society to be 
filled. But the secret of being well able to assist a boy in the 
intelligent choice of his life work lies chiefly in an expert 
knowledge of how juvenile character develops. 

Observe closely the conduct of any boy during the period 
of his growth and you will witness a great variety of character 
and disposition. There will appear many interests and some 
special aptitudes that are transitory, while a few of each will 
show forth more permanently. The five-year-old that plays 
eagerly with hammer and saw is not necessarily predestined 
to a mechanical pursuit, or the one that scribbles much with a 



REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 347 

pencil to that of an artist. The normal boy will manifest 
in turn a very active interest in a hundred and one such mat- 
ters if occasions permit, and it is one of the chief faults of 
our present system of education that it does not afford the 
child opportunity for the exercise of all his latent activities. 

Then give the boy every possible opportunity, both of work 
and play, to show what there is in him. Variety is the special 
watchword here. Many a boy that might develop into a suc- 
cessful farmer or stock-raiser is probably prevented by cir- 
cumstances of his childhood and youth from ever coming into 
touch with the materials and experiences necessary to awaken 
his interest in these matters, and he perhaps drifts into the 
position of a third-rate merchant or mechanic. Among the 
boy's great variety of activities during growth there will be 
some that clearly indicate unusual native ability and propen- 
sity. These special aptitudes should be carefully noted but 
not indulged to the point of hindering and unbalancing the 
general education. It is yet too early to specialize. 

"Vocation is a good deal more than the opposite of idle- 
ness. It is labor dedicated to the highest purpose; to wit, the 
cherishing of the family and the home. In all attempts to 
develop a system of trade instruction one principle should be 
the dominant motive and guide, and that is to emphasize the 
dignity of vocation and to elevate and bless the American 
home." 



THE GIRL IN THE HOME 

Go where you will throughout the length and breadth of 
this fair land of ours, and I challenge you to find among the 
children of men a more pleasing aspect than that of a smil- 
ing, rosy-cheeked, twelve-year-old girl garbed in a neat, loose- 
fitting house dress and a dainty white apron, while with a 



348 REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 

snowy tea towel in her hand she is engaged in drying the din- 
ner dishes. It is much to be regretted that we do not give 
its just measure of honor and praise to this exalted home life. 
There is certainly need of a great poet, or painter, or artist, 
or all of these, who will, by means of their high art, divert 
the attention of many young girls from the airy phantoms 
which they are now chasing and help them to fix their affec- 
tions upon the things that make for more substantial char- 
acter. If our novel writers and magazine artists would cease 
painting so many pictures of precocious, love-sick debutantes 
and pampered, sentimental summer girls, and would give us 
more illustrations of such types as the sturdy, simply-clad 
young home maker and the rosy-cheeked, unpretentious coun- 
try maid of the better sort, they would thus contribute not a 
little to the moral and spiritual uplift of the race. 

For many months I made diligent inquiry among various 
classes of people as to the best methods of training the grow- 
ing girl to help in the home. The end in view as conceived 
by this investigation was not so much that of getting the home 
work done, but rather that of fashioning the young worker 
into an efficient member of society. While gathering the 
statements and reports to be summarized in this article I have 
been repeatedly surprised at the willingness of thoughtful 
people to speak disapprovingly of the extremes to which 
modern fashions in dress are leading young girls, and these 
reports were all gathered from parents who were actually try- 
ing to train their own daughters to work. Among the mat- 
ters specifically referred to as being hindrances to the develop- 
ment of sound and stable character in growing girls are the 
craze for clothes, lack of parental authority, and the over in- 
dulgence in dissipations which, if taken in moderation, would 
be harmless. It is the consensus of opinion of at least a score 
of modern writers on child psychology — notable among these 
being President G. Stanley Hall — that the industrial ("re- 



REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 349 

form") school for juvenile delinquents is the only institution 
that to-day is furnishing anything like adequate training for 
boys and girls. There is a movement now under way that 
looks toward the establishment of a course in industrial train- 
ing for children in connection with our common-school sys- 
tem, but for many years to come, while such thing is being 
brought about, we must continue to depend chiefly upon the 
home to supply this need. 

INDUSTRIAL TRAINING AND EFFICIENCY 

That the young can be prepared for efficient life only by 
means that include much physical training as well as intel- 
lectual and moral culture is now regarded by educationists as 
a truism. Locke's celebrated maxim, "A sound mind in a 
sound body," is now so transformed as to read, "A sound 
mind as the result of the development of a sound body." The 
people at large, however, are slow in grasping the full mean- 
ing of this statement. The Dewey school of pedagogy has 
done much to make the matter clear by its insistence upon the 
principle that the only way in which the child may truly un- 
derstand our modern society is for him to pass through in 
fullest possible detail the experiences whereby society has 
reached its present status. Now, whatever else may be said 
of our social order to-day, its very foundation is laid in work, 
and such will doubtless long continue to be the case. 

In consideration of the foregoing, it is the thesis of this 
article that no one can ever know clearly what the best and 
most substantial element of our race life is without having had 
considerable experience in the performance of sustained and 
systematic labor. As a direct inference from this thesis it 
would follow that the child which grows to maturity lacking 
the experience of work is in no sense to be regarded as fully 
educated. "If we are to educate our young daughters so as 
to equip them to meet life's highest needs, we must see that 



350 REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 

they are trained to work," says the mother of a family of five 
attractive girls. "Too long we have been forcing them 
through the higher mathematics and the languages to the al- 
most complete neglect of domestic discipline." 

WORK TO VARY WITH AGE AND STRENGTH 

It is not a large amount of work but definite and system- 
atic work that is called for in properly training the growing 
girl. The most thoughtful of those interrogated have urged 
that the best home course in domestic science for the growing 
girl consists in a wide variety of things to be done, something 
representing every department of housekeeping from base- 
ment to garret. It is advisable to vary the tasks with the age 
and strength. According to the measurements of Boditch (U. 
S.) and Key (Sweden), two eminent authorities, the physical 
growth of girls is first retarded at 9, then more so at 11, while it 
is rapid from 12 to 14, reaching its maximum at the last-named 
age. Key also reports that girls are weakest in resistance of 
fatigue at 8, after which there is a gradual increase to 12, 
then a year's decrease, then a gradual increase to the time of 
full maturity. 

While the physical form of the little girl may be one of 
apparent symmetry and perfection, the centers of activity 
both in the body and the brain are relatively dormant, and 
only exercise will bring them out. To awaken these dormant 
centers with the right kind and variety of work and exercise 
is to invest the whole being with new, rich sources of moral 
strength and happiness. If the mother will watch her little 
daughter closely she will observe in the latter a series of 
transient interests. The best time to give any particular kind 
of instruction is when the interest in it is at its height. Chil- 
dren's interests in the practical affairs awaken in a variable se- 
ries. They are inclined to pursue one form of activity at a 
time with exclusiveness and vigor, then drop it somewhat ab- 



REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 351 

ruptly for the next. By means of watching this order of un- 
foldment one may be placed at an advantage in directing the 
work of the child. There is probably in the life of every young 
girl an ideal time for giving the first simple lessons in sewing 
or cooking, for example. 

LIGHT TASKS AT FIRST 

Nearly all the mothers questioned agreed that this home 
training should be begun early, the ages given ranging from 3 
to 7 years. Almost all the time of such young children must 
necessarily be allowed for play, but there may be a few baby 
tasks performed under parental direction. "Just as soon as 
my girls became interested in dolls and toy dishes I tried to 
take advantage of this fact in their training," said a careful 
mother. "While the care and attention they gave to these 
playthings was a matter of amusement to them, I saw at the 
same time that they were learning something. It was not a very 
difficult matter to lead them from the play to the work of the 
same nature." 

Other statements showing methods of training the younger 
girl follow: 

A physician: "We require our eleven-year-old girl to 
wash the dishes once daily while attending school and pay her 
for it. She regards this as reasonable and does not complain." 

A thoughtful mother: "I am taking my little girl through 
a systematic course of training. For about 30 minutes each 
day she is required to keep diligently at some light work se- 
lected for her. All the remainder of the time outside of school 
she has for play. As soon as she has learned to do one kind 
of work well something different is required. Just now, at 12 
years of age, she is learning to darn and mend her own 
clothes." 



352 REARING BOYS AND GIRLS 

PAYING HER OWN WAY 

To what extent may a growing girl become of real serv- 
ice in the home without any hindrance to her own development ? 
This is a question upon which all thoughtful mothers seem to 
be fairly well agreed, and the substance of their statements is 
practically as follows: It requires much time and patience 
and persistence to train a young girl to the degree that she 
may be able to give fair returns for what she receives, but the 
mother who understands the science and the art of developing 
young character will explain to one how essential it is that much 
thought be put into the undertaking. "It requires more time 
and thinking rightly to bring up a child to maturity than it 
does to build up a successful business," is the way one father 
puts it. But parents must not regard their children in the 
nature of chattels or financial investments. They must expect 
them while growing to maturity to cost more in sacrifice than 
they pay back in service. The well-reared child, if there be 
later in life an opportunity, will pay back to his aged parents 
in affectionate service all the sacrifices they have made for him 
during his youth. 



END 



JUL 13 19)2 



